Hand in Hand
by Hikari1993
Summary: Picks up right where Loss of Light left off. Juliet is trying to make amends for what she did while under Erik's control.
1. Chapter 1

[A/N: I really couldn't have let the story end like that could I? I know this chapter seems dreary, but it will get better I promise. There may be another chapter tomorrow it really depends because I need to watch a movie first. Remember what I said about Erik being a cockroach? You'll understand after reading this chapter. Reviews are appreciated. Enjoy the chapter!]

She wasn't sure how much time had passed when she woke up. Her head was throbbing and her elbows and knees were covered in scrapes. A little unsteadily she got to her feet swaying as she did so. One of her eyes was dark green, but the other was completely black. Her mousy brown hair had mostly fallen out of its ponytail and her clothes were ripped in several places. _Where am I? What happened?_ In her mind she could see a fuzzy picture of two people. One a boy with dark hair with a bit that fell in his face and the other a girl with a long blonde braid. She knew her name was Juliet, but wasn't sure who the other two people were. Juliet looked around the dark alley that she'd landed in when she realized that besides her shadow there was a second shadow; this one taller. She blinked in confusion and took a step to see if the shadow would follow which it did.

_What's the matter Juliet? Did you fall and hit your head?_

Juliet froze. She recognized that voice, but what was his name? "Who are you?"

_Oh no that simply will not do. Talk to me like this or other people will think you're crazy. _

_ Who are you?  
><em>

_ Don't you remember your dear master? You've hurt me. Its Erik remember?_

Juliet's eyes widened and she could bile coming up in the back of her throat. _Where are you?_

_ In your heart. _He'd said this so nonchalantly.

She reached down placing her hand over her heart before digging her fingers into the fabric of her shirt. _Get out….get out this instant. _

_ No can do. I lost my body thanks to you and I'm the kind of man who doesn't like to lose to so expect me to hang around for a long time._

Before Juliet could respond she heard the heavy footfalls of paws and feral snarling.

_That would be Chiyo. You know she's not to happy with you given what you did to me._

Juliet began to back up as the dog continued to advance on her. "Stay back….I'm warning you."The bracelet that she always wore had a soft light coming off it.

Chiyo ignored her before jumping on top of her. The wraith's growling and snarling subsided into whimpers as she scratched and sniffed at Juliet's chest.

Since she was still feeling the after effects of being thrown into a world so viciously she wasn't able to push the dog off. Juliet could feel Chiyo's claws digging into her chest as the dog tried to paw through her shirt. She was about to give up when she felt a strange weight in her hand. She swung her arm forward successfully knocking Chiyo off her. Once Juliet was standing again she saw that she was holding what looked like a sword expect it was iron grey and the blade curled in on itself; darker grey feathers were at the hilt. "Ok, dog come and get me."

Chiyo began to advance on her again, but this time when she went to bite Juliet's arm she was smacked on the snout with the strange weapon.

_I should have known the Keyblade would come back to you. I'm actually surprised you didn't use it earlier. _

"This is called a Keyblade? Ok, let's see what it can do."

Chiyo was circling her by now snarling as she went.

"You don't scare me dog. I can take you out easily."

Taking this as a threat Chiyo lunged at her again nearly knocking Juliet over.

Instead of falling down on her back Juliet shoved the Keyblade up stabbing Chiyo in the ribs.

However this seemed didn't seem to have any effect since the dog was still pushing on her shoulders with her paws.

Juliet could feel her knees knocking together from the extra weight on top of her and stabbed at Chiyo again. "Why don't you stay down?" She swung the Keyblade at Chiyo again striking her in the temple.

_Don't expect one of my creations to go down so easily._

"Shut up I can't think with you talking." Juliet found herself backed up against the wall of the alley.

_You do realize what Chiyo is going to do to you once she has you knocked out right?_

_No._

_She's going to tear out your heart._

"Well I'm not going to let her."

Chiyo had Juliet boxed in and was going to bite her leg to pull her down when she felt the Keyblade smack on top of the head.

Juliet stepped over the dog who had fallen to the ground before hitting her in the head again. "Stay down damn you just stay down." Her arms were beginning to ache from the amount of times she'd stuck Chiyo. After landing several more hard blows she stopped; her arms shaking. She nudged the dog's limp form with her foot before side stepping around her.

_She's going to come back you know. Don't be surprised if you see her again._

Now that Juliet was out of the alley she found herself in a little town. "Where am I?"

_Check your pocket._

Juliet reached into her pocket to find an extremely old tattered map. 

_You came from a place called the End of the World and now you're in Traverse Town._

"Traverse Town…ok…" She started walking around the district when she noticed that the people seemed to giving her extra space. "What's wrong with them? They seem scared of me."

_They are scared of you and with good reason. You caused quite a bit of havoc. Or do you not remember that either?_

There were images in her head like a poorly developed film. A boy with spiky brown hair with big yellow shoes, a silver haired boy, an old man on a boat, a young brunette woman, a girl wearing rags, a flying boy, two pirates, a cat, and a old merman. "Who are they?"

_People you screwed over._

_I don't remember screwing anyone over._

_How wonderful for you. Well I remember it all very well. Shall I tell you?_

_I don't to hear it. _

_I'm going to tell you anyway. With the expectation of Sora and Riku you corrupted all the other's hearts. _

_I did not._

_Yes you did. _

_Shut up I did not. _

_So if you didn't explain to me why all these people look so scared of you?_

Juliet glanced over at shop only to see the windows shut.

_See you have no explanation because you know I'm right._

She ignored him and pushed the doors leading to the second district open. From the corner of her eye she saw a small house that seemed familiar.

_That's your house in case you're wondering._

The door was unlocked and it didn't look like anyone had been in the house for a long while. Juliet sat down on the bed and could feel her lip starting to tremble. She rubbed her eyes hoping to drive off the tears that wanted to come.

_I never pictured you as the type to cry._

_Shut up and go away._

It took a few minutes to try and calm down before Juliet got off the bed and began to go through the dresser drawers. She found a roll of bandages which she used to wrap the scrapes on her elbows as well as some new clothes. She'd changed into a white tank top with stitching up the back, black pants, and sneakers before tying her hair back. She still felt like crying, but that would have to wait until she found someone who could tell her why all these people seemed so afraid. "I'll just show them that they don't have to be afraid of me." When she opened the door of the house to leave she felt a little body collide with her leg.

It was a little boy with black hair wearing red suspenders and a hat with a red feather in it.

"Are you ok?" 

"There's something really wrong with my Father." The boy grabbed onto Juliet's hand and began to pull her back towards the first district. "You have to help my Father."

"Hold on kid I don't even know your name."

"Pinocchio, but that doesn't matter you have to help him."

Juliet allowed Pinocchio to pull her back into the first district and up to a little house with a green and gold door. She could hear a ruckus going on inside and pulled Pinocchio back. "You better stay out here Pinocchio it could be dangerous."

"Just help my Father." Pinocchio was nearly in tears.

"Don't worry I'll help him." Juliet cracked the door open to see an old man hunched over a work bench. On the walls were several puppets that seemed oddly familiar.

_That's Geppetto one of the people you screwed over._

Juliet quietly went up behind Geppetto and gently touched his shoulder to get his attention. "Geppetto, your son Pinocchio is really worried about you. Maybe you want to stop what you're doing and talk to him?" 

Geppetto turned around to face Juliet; his eyes completely black. He shoved her back towards the door.

"There's defiantly something up here. I've never seen eyes like that. Look Geppetto I'm not leaving until you go outside and talk to your son."

There was dark vapor coming off the puppet maker and it was going towards the puppets on the wall. The first one to react was of a tall blue skinned man wearing a black toga with flaming blue hair. The puppet swung its arms at Juliet launching a fireball which scorched her arm.

_Oh, I see what he did. He made puppets of Hades, Ursula, Oogie Boogie, Captain Hook, Jafar, and Maleficent. _ _Clever, didn't know he had it in him._

_Then how do I defeat them?_

_You figure it out._

Juliet had to dodge another fireball when she tripped over a puppet on the ground. She looked down to see a woman who was half octopus trying to get out from under her. She was about to get up when a set of dice were thrown at her face from a puppet that resembled a sack. She batted away another onslaught of dice when a sword was pointed at her neck. "This is ridicules six on one isn't fair."

A puppet wielding a snake's head staff smacked her on top of the head while a horned woman pelted her with magic.

"There's no way I'm going to lose to a bunch of puppets." Juliet could feel the puppets beginning to tie her down with their strings before she knocked them back with her Keyblade. "Ok, Geppetto you want to play dirty I'll play dirty." She kicked the puppets away again when she felt them trying to tie her ankles. She did have an idea on how to fix the puppet maker, but it was a long shot. "This may hurt a bit, but its for your own good you know."

Before Geppetto could react the Keyblade got shoved into his chest. The cloudy haze from Geppetto's eyes slowly dissipated. He had a look on his face that looked like he'd just woken up when he saw the mess on the floor before looking up at Juliet. "I didn't know I'd have company and look at this mess." He leaned down and began to pick up the puppets. "Funny, I don't remember making these before."

The door opened and Pinocchio came bounding in throwing his arms around Geppetto's neck. "She fixed you Father I'm so glad."

"Well don't worry Pinocchio is everything is going to be all right now."

Knowing that she was the one who'd caused this problem in the first place Juliet didn't think she had any place in the house and quietly shut the door behind her.

_You must feel on top of the world._

_As a matter of fact I do. No thanks to you. _"Now where do I go from here?" There was a large pair of double doors that looked promising. "Might as well try going through there."

Back in the alley the dog was stirring. Chiyo returned to her human form and was rubbing a sore spot on the back of her head. Her hand came back red. "Don't you worry master I'm going to make that bitch pay."


	2. Chapter 2

[A/N: Wow this is a long chapter. Originally this was supposed to be Toy Story 3, but I couldn't find the movie on Netflix so it's Toy Story 2. I hope that isn't disappointing. I think Rex is a sweet heart in this chapter and you'll see what I'm talking about after you read it. Reviews are appreciated. Enjoy the chapter!]

Since it had been a while since Juliet had flown the glider her landing was more of a crash. She sat up looking around to see where she'd landed. There was a large house behind her and several tables with various items in front of her. "Now, where am I?" She reached into her pocket and pulled out the map. "According to this I'm in Andy's Room. Funny doesn't look like I'm in anyone's room."

_Don't be smart it doesn't suit you. The room itself is in the house._

Juliet rolled her eyes and stood up to go into the house when a red wiener dog came running out.

Attached to the side of the dog was a sheriff doll. The doll was looking around the area when he saw Juliet and waved over at her. "Oh good someone helpful. Juliet, would you mind giving me a hand?" 

"Sure, but who are you?"

"I'm Woody don't you remember?"

"No, sorry, but what do you need help with?"

Woody pulled himself up onto the dog's back and pointed over at a box that was marked 25 cents. "There's a toy in that box that I need to save. He's a penguin and his name is Wheezy." He offered her his hand to hoist her onto the dog's back.

Juliet was having a bit of a hard time staying on the dog's back since its body was wiggling so much and wrapped her arms around Woody's waist.

Once they got over to the table with the box on it Woody turned around. "I need you to give me a boost up, ok?"

"Ready." Juliet held her hand out for Woody to put his foot on him so she could help push him up. She could hear him rustling around in the box before he came back holding a penguin.

Woody shoved Wheezy into the dog's collar since the toy couldn't really hold on.

"Bless you Woody."

"So what have you been up to since the last time I saw you, Juliet? I heard some awful stories, but I don't believe them."

"What kind of awful stories?"

"That you were going around stealing hearts or something, but I don't believe it. By the way what happened to your eye?"

Before Juliet could answer Wheezy began to slip out of the dog's collar.

Woody went to shove Wheezy back into the collar when he slipped off the dog's back.

Juliet went to grab him, but since she was having such a difficult time staying on the dog's back anyway she slipped off landing on the concrete.

A little girl came running over scooping up Woody before she saw Juliet and picked her up too. "Mommy look, look a cowboy and princess doll. Can I have them please, please can I have them?"

"Oh no honey there's something wrong with her eye and his arm is torn. Just put them back."

The little girl set them both back on the table, but as soon as she did so Woody was grabbed up again.

Juliet could hear the man speaking very quickly to himself and gathered that Woody was some kind of collectable. She sat up and began to follow the man when she saw a woman telling the man off and taking Woody from him setting him in a tool box. "Good at least she got that creep away from Woody." 

_Why are you so sure that Al is a creep?_

_ How do you know his name?_

_ I've been through the worlds many, many times I remember running across him. Greedy individual if I recall correctly._

Juliet was about to hop off the table to get Woody out of the box when she saw Al shove a skateboard back into a pile of boxes distracting Andy's Mom. "What's he doing?" She saw him thrust the lip of the tool box open and pull Woody out. "He's not taking Woody if I have anything to say about it." She jumped from the table top and began to chase after Al.

Another toy who had been watching from the window sill had come to Woody's rescue as well. The space ranger looked over at Juliet in confusion. "Haven't we met before?"

"I don't know maybe. Let's do introductions later and save Woody first. Sound good?"

Since Juliet and Buzz who were so much smaller then Al it was more difficult for them to keep up with him.

Buzz jumped up to grab onto the lip of the trunk of the car when he slipped off.

Juliet had an easier time keeping her grip and swung herself into the trunk. She saw Al toss the bag with Woody inside into the truck before the lid slammed.

_Look at the mess you've gotten yourself into. That's what you get for helping people._

_ Be quiet I can get out of here no problem, but I need to get Woody out first._

The car ride was bumpy and there was a lot of trash in Al's trunk which was rolling around. There was a vague odor of fast food and motor oil.

The trunk door opened again to let Al pick up the bag. He saw Juliet and picked her looking a bit curious. "How did you get in there? Oh well I could probably find someone who wants you….for a price of course.

_You weren't lying when you said he was greedy._

_ See you can trust me. Now, how do you plan on getting out of here?_

_ I'm not going anywhere without Woody. _

_ Your chivalry is making me feel ill._

_ Sorry, that's just how I am._ Juliet was looking around the lobby of the apartment building they were in when Al got into an elevator. _His palms are sweating really badly and he stinks. When was the last time he bathed? _

After a few more minutes Al unlocked the door of his apartment. It was mostly bare with a couple cardboard boxes sitting in a corner. Al set Woody down gently on the table top and dropped Juliet down next to him.

Woody waited until Al had left the room before jumping down from the table and jumping up to try and reach the door handle.

"Woody, I don't think either of us can reach the door handle." She had an idea and summoned her glider. After she'd flown over to the handle she tried to turn it, but found that she wasn't strong enough. "No luck up here."

Woody went over to the air vent and tried to yank it open.

From behind him one peanuts from one of the cardboard boxes came flying out.

Juliet had landed next to Woody and was eyeing box with suspicion.

Before she could react a girl jumped out of the box and launched herself at Woody. "Oh, its you its you you're finally here!" She was dressed similar to Woody, but she had strips of cow hide over her jeans and her hat was red.

Woody was attempting to push the girl off when a horse licked his face. He was having no luck pushing the girl off and now the horse was joining in on the assault. After a few successful shoves in the ribs Woody got the girl untangled from him. "Who are you?"

"It's me Jessie and this is Bullseye. The Prospector will want to meet you. Finally we're a complete set." Jessie had completely ignoring Juliet, but Bullseye had been licking her hand. With a bit of difficulty she pulled another box out of the cardboard and turned it around.

The Prospector was a pudgy bearded man wearing overalls and a brown hat with a gap in his teeth.  
>"Well I never thought I'd see the day." Like Jessie the Prospector didn't seem to notice Juliet.<p>

Woody began to back up as Jessie, the Prospector, and Bullseye began to advance on him. "This is getting creepy. Juliet you can jump in any time you're ready."

Juliet pulled Woody behind her and aimed the Keyblade at them. "I don't want to hurt you, but I suggest you back up."

Jessie opened her mouth to protest when the Prospector jumped in. "Young lady I understand that you're upset, but Woody is part of our family. It would be cruel to split us up don't you agree?"

"Family? You're dressed similar, but that doesn't make you family."

"Jessie, why don't you show them?"

Jessie jumped onto the table top and flicked on a light.

Woody's jaw dropped open when he saw what the light had revealed.

The whole apartment was filled with memorabilia all of which featured Woody, Jessie, the Prospector, and Bullesye.

"Juliet would you look at all this stuff." Woody joined Jessie on the table top to get a better look at all the stuff that had his face on it.

Juliet however was not impressed. "Woody, I think this guy is obsessed with you. We should get out of here before he comes back."

With Bullseye pushing his box towards Juliet the Prospector addressed her. "You must not have a family if you're cruel enough to want to break us apart. You must understand that if we're going to have a better life we want Woody to apart of it."

She didn't really appreciate the Prospector's speech about how she was breaking apart a family and shouldn't be cruel just because she didn't have one. "I do to have a family."

"Then why the cruelty?"

"Because Woody already has a family. I'm sure Andy loves him and it wouldn't be right to separate them."

Jessie had heard the exchange between the Prospector and Juliet and jumped off the table top. "I don't know who you are, but we need Woody to go to Tokyo to be in the museum and I am not going back in storage."

"Hold on did you say museum?" Woody was sitting on the edge of the table. "I can't go to some museum I'm Andy's toy."

"See what I mean? Come down Woody let's see if we can get the vent open."

The Prospector wasn't going to let Woody go without a fight. "Was it Andy who ripped your arm? Children will destroy you."

"Yes, but it was an accident."

"One of these days this Andy boy is going to tear you apart then when he's satisfied with you he'll throw you away where you'll rot in a land fill."

Juliet found herself liking the Prospector less and less. "So what's going to happen to me, Prospector. I've never been played with."

"You will either be thrown away as a defective toy or end up in a museum. No child could love someone as rotten as you."

"How am I rotten? Tell me that?"

"Do you know how long we've been waiting for this? We're going to that museum and nothing's going to stop us including you."

"I don't have to listen to some old goat patronize me. I'm leaving. Are you coming Woody?"She had her back turned and was walking back towards the vent. When she didn't hear Woody following she sighed, but didn't turn around. "You want to stay here then fine, but don't plan on having me come bail you out when you decide you want to come home." It was easy for her to get the screws out of the vent with the Keyblade and didn't bother to give Woody a parting glance.

_Clap, clap, clap it took balls to stand up to that old man. But he's right you know you're going to end up alone._

_ Why do you say that?_

_ Well look at yourself. You have me living in your heart, you can't keep your temper, and you just left behind someone who needed help. Shall I go on?_

_ Woody can take care of himself. He doesn't need me._

_ Who knows maybe the Prospector is planning something awful. And what about Jessie and Bullseye? Don't you want to help them?_

_ They're not my problem. If they want to spend the rest of their lives in a glass case being oogled at that's their problem._

_ You've gotten cold. Before I took your heart you were such a do gooder. You would help anyone even if there wasn't something to gain. I guess since you don't have them to influence you anymore you're showing your true colors._

_ Who's them?_

_ No body important. _

_ Tell me who they are. _She didn't hear an answer which wasn't doing anything for her attitude. "Fine, give me the silent treatment I don't care. You're a parasite anyway. I don't need your help with anything I can take care of myself." Even though she said this as Juliet navigated her ways through the ventilation she was feeling terribly lonely. "I don't need anyone I'm perfectly fine on my own."

By the time she got outside the apartment building it was light outside. Juliet hadn't slept at all since she'd been so focused on getting out and now it was catching up with her. She was about to lay down in the grass to try and take a nap when she saw a group of toys coming towards her. She ignored them and rolled over when the dinosaur went up to her.

"I know you. You were that crazy girl who went into Sid's house. I thought you got blown up."

Juliet glared at him from over her shoulder and pulled her knees up to her chest.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothings the matter. Just go away."

Mr. Potato Head grabbed onto one of Rex's arms to pull him towards the vent. "We don't have time for this Rex we need to save Woody."

Juliet sat up when she heard Woody's name. "I wouldn't bother. He's very happy where he is."

Rex pulled his arm away and walked over to her. "But what about Andy?"

"He's going to some museum. Andy is going to have to find another toy to play with. Now go away I want to sleep."

Rex obviously didn't get the message because he stayed at her side. "But why wouldn't Woody want to come home? Andy loves him. And you're probably a long way from home too. Did Al kidnap you too?"

"No I came on my own."

"But don't you have a child who loves you?"

"Well according to the Prospector I'm defective and who could possibly love someone who's defective?"

Rex was looking her up and down. "I don't think you're defective. It just looks like someone colored your eye. I bet there's someone out there who really loves you. You just have to find them."

_Are you going to get chocked up again?_

_ Be quiet._

"Hurry up Rex we need to get Woody."

Juliet watched the dinosaur lumber off feeling what he'd said sink in. _I don't to go. I don't think Woody would want to see me since I just left him behind. _She stared at the vent for a few more seconds. "I must be out of my mind."

It didn't take her long to catch up with the other toys who were following the same path she'd taken.

Rex was the first one to notice her and waved back at her.

"Well Woody is my friend too I might as well help him. Besides the Prospector doesn't know what he's talking about. I mean how sensible could a guy named Stinky Pete be?"

As they progressed through the ventilation Juliet noticed how very odd Buzz was acting. _He wasn't acting like this last time I saw him. And where'd he get that belt?_ She heard him formulating a plan on how to open the vent and was about to interject when they picked up Rex and began to run towards the vent. "That's going to leave a mark."

Fortunately the vent came open thanks to the force that Rex's head had applied.

Thinking that Woody wouldn't want to see her Juliet hung back, but was nearly knocked over when another Buzz doll came running past her. "Two Buzzs? What in the world is going on?" She inched towards the vent to better hear the conversation, but still didn't come out. She could hear Buzz telling Woody off for abandoning Andy and was glad that the Prospector wasn't interfering. _What I wouldn't do to punch him in the face. _She was a bit confused to see the toys coming back without Woody. "Where is he? You're just going to leave him behind?"

"He doesn't want to come with us. He'd be happier wasting away in a museum." Buzz had his head hung while he said this.

"Well maybe you guys are going to leave him, but I'm going to drag him out kicking and screaming if I have to." Juliet went back down the tunnel, but was blocked by the vent which the Prospector had just put back into place,

"Sorry little girl, but I'm not going to let some defective toy get in my way of getting to that museum."

"I'd like to see you stop me, Stinky Pete." She took a step back casting a fire spell on the vent melting enough of it to squeeze through.

However, Al came back into the room and hastily repacked Woody, Jessie, Bullseye, and the Prospector. He looked down at Juliet and picked her up. "I could probably find someone in Tokyo who'd be willing to pay for you." He dropped her in his bag before wheeling out the crate that Woody was in.

_What are you doing? Do you really want to spend the rest of your life in a glass box?_

_ I'm not going to spend the rest of my life in a box. I'm going to get Woody out of here. Jessie and Bullseye too if they want my help._

_ There's the do gooder attitude again. I suppose I should help you because if your plan fails I'll be stuck in a box too._

_ You don't have to do anything I've got it under control. _

_ Oh, but I insist. It's not just your skin on the line here._

Juliet stuck her head out of the bag to see a handful of heartless form in front of Al.

Al shrieked and swung the bag at the heartless which nearly sent Juliet flying out of it.

_You only made things worse._

_ Made things worse? You could have jumped out of his bag when he flung it._

_ I told you I'm not going anywhere without Woody. Now call them off. _She could hear Erik cursing under his breath and peeped out of the bag again in time to see the heartless vanish.

Al was still looking a bit skittish as he dropped the bag in the passenger's seat and carefully placed the crate in the back seat. Al's driving proved to be just as erratic as it had been when she'd snuck into his trunk and Juliet was trying to find something in the bag to grab onto so she wouldn't slide around as much. The car skidded to a halt in front of the airport.

Juliet could hear Al talking to an employee before she was picked up again.

"I guess I could put you in with the rest of them. There should be room."

Juliet found herself squeezed in next to Woody. "Well now that I have your ear I'd like to apologize for leaving you behind earlier."

"Don't worry about it. I kinda acted like a jerk too."

"So are we friends again?"

"I'd say we are. Now there's just the problem of getting out of here."

Juliet pulled her legs up to her chest before kicking hard on the lid of the case. "I think if I kick it enough I can get it open." She kicked it a few more times before the buckles unlocked. "Good now we can get of here." When she went to get out of the case she was a bit blown away by where they were. "This is going to be a bit tricky."

Woody was looking from the numerous moving pathways when he heard a muffled yelp from beneath him. He pulled the foam cushion aside to let Jessie and Bullseye come out.

Juliet pulled herself out of the case in time to see Buzz and the other toys coming towards them.

Woody and Bullseye had also gotten out of the crate, but when Jessie went to join them the Prospector pulled her back.

He was giving Juliet a poisonous look and had his pick ax aimed at her. "You just can't take a hint can you? We're going to that museum and all of you are going to like it."

Juliet had, had just about enough of the Prospector and took a step towards him; her hands balled up into fists. "Well I've got news for you Prospector you're staying here." She didn't give him a chance to react and punched him as hard she could between the eyes. She caught sight of a pink backpack when a devilish smile came to her face. "Would one of you mind giving me a hand? I think the Prospector is going to be in for a rude awakening."

Jessie was again about to get out of the case when it suddenly lurched forward stopping in front of a truck.

Woody and Buzz jumped onto Bullseye's back and followed the case down towards the truck while Juliet followed along on her glider. None of them were moving fast enough to keep up with the truck which was now unloading luggage onto the plane.

Juliet offered her hand to Woody. "I think I can get up high enough for you to get onto the plane to get Jessie out."

Woody had to jump off Bullseye's back to grab onto Juliet's hand before jumping up into the belly of the plane.

She slowed the glider down a bit so that she was flying alongside Buzz when the hatch of the plane shut. "What? No, no that isn't fair."

_Sorry to break it to you, but life isn't fair._

_ Shut up will you I'm trying to think. _She flew down to where the planes wheels were in time to see Woody and Jessie slowly making their way down.

"Buzz get behind the plane." Woody pulled on his pull string so that there was plenty of slack before throwing it down so that it would catch onto a gear on the plane. He grabbed Jessie around the waist and jumped off successfully getting beneath the plane and landing on Bullseye.

Now that the crisis had been averted Juliet was thinking it was time for her to go. She was about to do that when she heard Woody call out to her.

"Where are you going? Don't you want to meet Andy? He'd love to have another toy."

It sound nice to belong somewhere, but she was thinking about the boy and the girl she'd seen in Traverse Town and shook her head. "Sorry Woody, but I can't there are some people I need to find."


	3. Chapter 3

[A/N: I suspect that the next two chapters will be short like this. Also please excuse Juliet's bitchy attitude it will get better I promise. And Clementine will be back in a couple chapters too. Reviews are appreciated. Enjoy the chapter!]

The next world that Juliet found herself in looked completely deserted. "Well it looks like I'm in Radiant Garden or does that say Hollow Bastian?"

_They're the same place don't worry about the name. _

"I wonder where everyone is?" As Juliet began to walk through the village she noticed that the people were acting like how the people of Traverse Town had acted and were shutting their doors and windows when she got too close. "I wish they wouldn't act so scared. I'm not going to hurt them."

_Its not you they're scared of._

_ Then what's scaring them?_

_ I'm not telling you. You'll have to find out for yourself. _

Behind her was the dog from Traverse Town. Chiyo had followed Juliet into Andy's Room, but now that Juliet alone she was thinking now would be the opportune time to attack. She silently padded along behind Juliet until her prey stopped walking.

Juliet was examining a freezer that looked like it hadn't been touched in years before she felt something jump on top of her.

Chiyo was snarling down at her before she bit down on Juliet's arm her fangs easily shredding the skin and muscle.

Trying to ignore the stabbing pain in her arm Juliet swung the Keyblade at Chiyo's head hitting her in the temple.

This didn't seem to faze her and instead of continuing to bite at Juliet's arm Chiyo extended her claws and began to claw at her chest.

Juliet pulled her legs up under her as best she could before shoving them forward into Chiyo's stomach successfully knocking her off. The pain in her arm was difficult to ignore and unfortunately the arm Chiyo had bitten had been the arm she used to fight with. "I'm not scared of you Chiyo. Come and get me I'm not going anywhere."

Chiyo went for her leg this time, but wasn't able to get a good grip since something had come sailing out of nowhere and smacked her in the snout.

Juliet turned to see who had come to help her. _That's the boy I saw before. Why is he helping me?_

_ Because he's in love you that's why._

_ What are you talking about?_ She saw Chiyo beginning to walk over to him and grabbed onto the wraith's tail to pull her back. "Leave him alone its me you want."

Chiyo turned around to snap at Juliet when a ball of ice struck her from behind.

_And the girl too? _Before Juliet could gather her thoughts she felt the boy pull her behind him.

"You stay over here Juliet we'll deal with the dog."

"I'm ok I can take care of it myself."

"Look at your arm. It's in pieces. Let us deal with this then Clementine can heal you when it's gone."

_Clementine? That must be her name, but whose he? Well he's cute whoever he is. _Even though Juliet would have liked to fight the dog off herself her arm was screaming at her and it looked like these two could handle themselves.

Now that she wasn't able to get at Juliet, Chiyo didn't look interested in fighting. She stuck her nose in the air and walked off.

Clementine hurried over to Juliet's side and lifted her arm up prompting a pained hiss. "Don't worry about that I can heal you no problem."

Juliet saw green light come from the tips of Clementine's fingers before the light enveloped her arm.

"There good as new."

Sure enough the ripped skin had completely healed. There wasn't even a scare. "Thanks, but who are you exactly?"

Clementine's face fell. "Are you serious? You don't remember us? Wait, did you hit your head?" 

"Yeah, hard too."

Clementine grabbed onto the boy's hand and shoved him forward. "Akio you're going to have to kiss her again." 

Akio's face tuned pink and he shook her head. "Clementine, kissing her didn't work last time what makes you think its going to work this time?"

"It works in the fairy tales."

"Well this isn't a fairy tale."

Juliet wanted to know who they were and if kissing Akio would tell her that she was going to do it. "Come here." She pulled him a bit closer before lightly kissing him. To her surprise Akio pushed her away. "It didn't work. Now who are you?"

"I'm Clementine and this is Akio. We're your best friends, Juliet."

"Prove it."

"What's with the attitude? Why can't you just take my word for it?"

"Look I want to like the two of you, but some really strange stuff has been going on. There was this guy who was making demon puppets and then I went to this world where everyone thought I was a toy and to top it off I've got this parasite in my heart."

_Watch who you're calling parasite._

Clementine's eyes went wide. "What do you mean you have a parasite in your heart?"

"It's this guy named Erik and-" Juliet was cut off when Clementine grabbed onto her shoulders and began to violently shake her.

"Get out of there you son of a bitch. You've caused enough problems."

\

_Oh dear you've made her angry._

Juliet shoved herself away and took a few steps back. "You two are weird and I think I'm going to go now. Thanks for your help, but I don't think I want your friendship. I'm better off on my own." She turned to go and at first it seemed like they'd taken the hint.

\

_Very good you don't need their help anyway. They'll just slow you down._

_ I don't want your help either, parasite._

_ You know my name I suggest you use it._

_ Or what? _Juliet stopped when she saw a tall red eyed shadow in front of her. "Go away I'm not in the mood for you." She walked past the shadow when she realized she was being followed. "Can't you take a hint? I want to be alone."

Akio had been the one following her. "What's with the attitude? I thought you'd be glad to see us."

"I don't even know who you are so how could I be glad to see you? Now go away."

"You were never this grumpy when I first met you."

"I'm not grumpy I want to be left alone."

"Well don't except me to do that?"

"Why? Because you're so in love with me?"

"No, we were friends before I fell in love with you. And just because you're in a mood doesn't mean I'm going to leave you behind."

"What about Clementine?"

"You pissed her off. I'd give her some time to cool down first." 

"I want to get something straight with you. I don't need either of you I can take care of myself."

"And what if that dog comes back? Do you really want to get your arm ripped open again?"

Juliet was starting to get a bit flustered and he had brought up a good point with Chiyo. "Get lost."

Instead of leaving Akio continued to follow her. "You can hate me all you want, but don't expect me to just disappear from your life. I'm going to haunt you until you get out of this funk that you're in. Expect Clementine to do that too."

"Why are you being so damn persistent? And don't say it's because you like me or that we're friends."

"Because the last time we got separated something really awful happened to you and I don't want it to happen again."

"You want to follow me fine follow me, but don't expect anything to change."

There wasn't any conversation as they walked through the village until a large castle came into view. Juliet craned her neck to get a better look at it before trying to push one of the massive doors open. She was using both arms and pushing as hard as she could on the door.

Akio watched for a few seconds before shaking his head. "Pitiful. I can get it open if you want." He only used one arm and easily pushed it open.

"Are you some kind of superman or something?"

"No, but after we got separated the first time-"

"You know I just realized I don't care." She looked into the darkness of castle before stepping inside.

The inside of the castle was dark and dank with many twisting halls that all looked the same. Juliet didn't exactly know where she was going, but she noticed that Akio did. "So what's down here?"

"Oh, so you want to talk to me?"

"Don't be a smart ass. Just answer my question." 

"Ansem's computer should be down here, but let's not go there."

"Why not? Scared?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"There's someone in the computer who I'm sure is not happy with me."

"What's their name?"

"Clu."

"What the hell kind of name is Clu?"

"It's just his name."

"Well what's so scary about Clu?"

"He'll derezz me."

"What's that?"

"Its kinda like killing you. You cease to exist."

"I'll kick his ass for you don't worry."

"I thought you didn't like me."

"You're growing on me."

After a little while longer of walking they came into a large room with a computer in it. Juliet went over to the computer before typing something. "Why won't it do anything?"

Akio walked around her and pressed the power button. "I still don't think this is a good idea."

"Nonsense, this is the best idea I've had in a long time." She continued to press random buttons on the computer not noticing that a beam of light was pointed at them.


	4. Chapter 4

[A/N: I may be pushing the T rating with the language in this chapter. I have never seen Tron Legacy, but I read up on Clu and have seen him in Dream Drop Distance so hopefully he's in character. This chapter was actually a lot of fun and made me think back to the Grid chapter from Dearly Beloved. Reviews are appreciated. Enjoy the chapter!]

This new world was very strange looking. It was black with shades of blue that illuminated the hanger they were in. She could feel weight on top of her and pushed Akio off her. "Someone changed our clothes." She was wearing a black unitard with glowing blue stripes going up the sides.

Akio was wearing an outfit similar to hers, but where Juliet was wearing blue he was wearing red. He yanked the helmet off that he'd been wearing. "I can never breath with that damn helmet on."

"Well where are we?"

"It's called the Grid."

Juliet stood up looking around the hanger when she saw people dressed in red and black coming towards them. "Who are they?"

Akio went rigid when he saw who was approaching. "Those are guards. Clu's guards actually." 

"I see….why are you dressed like them anyway?"

"I used to be one of Clu's guards. Until I met you and then I was supposed to take you to Clu since you're a user, but instead I left with you. And I was never planning on coming back since Clu probably heard about this and I'm sure is very angry with me for not obeying his orders."

"Well it looks like they're getting closer." She summoned her Keyblade, but quickly wished she hadn't when she how many guards there were.

All the guards were wearing helmets which obscured their identities, but the one had the head of the group seemed to recognize Akio. "Well look who decided to come crawling back. Where've you been this whole time Akio? And you brought a user? Good Clu will be glad he's been looking for someone worthwhile to fight Rinzler."

Juliet looked over at Akio. "Who's Rinzler?"

"Rinzler is Clu's pets. He likes to have him fight other programs for fun." 

"Sounds like a classy guy."

The guard who'd recognized Akio wasn't pleased with having his leader slandered. He grabbed Juliet by the arm and began leading her away. "Thanks for the user Akio we'll make sure to take good care of her." 

"Well I've got some things I'd like to say to Clu and I'm not about to leave Juliet behind."

"When did you become noble? Come with if you want to talk to Clu, but don't expect to leave with your pet user."

As Juliet walked through the hanger she saw more people in blue and black or more of the helmeted guards. _These people don't seem too threatening I could probably take these guards down easily. All though I don't think it would be a very good idea. There could be more of them lurking around here. _She noticed that Akio was trying to catch her eye and looked over at him. "Well what?"

"I hate to say I told you so about coming here, but I told you so."

"Be quiet you've made your point."

_Why are you getting so nasty with him? He's right you know you should have listened to him about not coming here. And now you're stuck here._

_ If I don't want to hear it from him what makes you think I want to hear it from you?_

"You're talking to him aren't you?"

"Yes, I was talking to the parasite." 

_Must you keep calling me a parasite?_

"I didn't notice it until just now, but one of your eyes is still black. I guess that's because you're sharing a heart with him." 

"I guess…" Juliet tapped the shoulder of the guard in front of her. "So, we're going to see Clu right?"

"Yes."

"Why can't I just fight Rinzler and be done with it?"

"Oh don't worry about that you'll get your chance."

"I look forward to it." 

"You say that, but when you see Rinzler you'll be quaking in your boots."

"I'm sure."

"Are all users smart asses or it only you?"

"Some of us are. Why am I growing on you?"

"Not at all. I don't see why Akio left with you in the first place."

"I don't know why either. I've been nothing short of rotten to him since we've met."

"Well he's going to be in for it as well once Clu gets a hold of him."

"What's going to happen to him? I heard something about getting derezzed."

"I suspect that will happen, yes."

_Not if I have anything to say about it. Its one thing for me to abuse him, but I'm not going to give Clu that opportunity. In fact I have some things I'd like to say to Clu if we ever get there._

After a little while of walking they came into an area of some kind. Standing at the top of the area was a man wearing black and yellow. He looked a bit board with the proceedings, but was staring intently at the bottom of the arena. His lip curled into a sneer when he saw Akio. "Well, look who finally showed up."

Akio could feel his knees knock together as he looked up at Clu. "Juliet, you see that guy up there in yellow?"

"Yeah."

"That's Clu."

She frowned. "I'm not impressed. He just looks like a guy."

"Do you see that guy behind him in red with the helmet on?"

"Is that Rinzler?"

"Yep, that's Rinzler."

"Still not impressed."

"You haven't seen him fight. If you saw him fight you'd be saying something different."

"Hopefully I'll get the opportunity." 

"Do you have a death wish?"

"No, I just think I can take him on easily."

"Well, you'll get what you want."

Clu had come down from his perch with Rinzler skulking about behind him. He was looking down his nose at Akio. "So you finally decided to come back? And you brought a user with you. You know how I feel about users."

"It's not his fault. I was messing around with a compute and sent us here by accident."

"Was I addressing you, user?"

Juliet felt her blood boil. "Well Clu this may be news to you, but did you ever stop think that maybe Akio doesn't want to be here anymore?"

Clu glanced over at her; there was a faint flicker of irritation on his face. "I still don't recall talking to you so if you don't mind will you shut your mouth." 

She was about to interject further when Akio clapped a hand over her mouth.

"Just be quiet. If you piss him off it's just going to be worse."

Juliet pulled his hand away. "You think everyone is scared of you don't you, Clu? Well I'm not scared of you. I'll take anything you can throw at me."

"Anything?" Clu was glancing back at Rinzler. "Well user you've caught my attention. And here I thought all users were dull witless creatures. If you're really as strong as you say you are then you're free to go."

"And I'm taking Akio with me."

"Why? I was always under the impression that users thought they were better than us. Why would you want to take him with you?"

"Maybe I want company."

"Company? Is that all?" 

"Yes, that's all. So are we going to do this or not?"

Clu glanced back at Rinzler before crooking his finger to bring him over.

Akio pulled Juliet aside before she could go forward. "You have no idea what you're getting into. Rinzler is going to tear you apart."

"I'm not scared of him. He hasn't even taken his helmet off so maybe he's scared of me." 

"I highly doubt that. Clu has him well trained. If you back out now no one will think any less of you."

"And where will that leave you? Do you really want to get derezzed?"

"Not really, but I'm not worried. I got out of here once I'm sure I could do it again."

"So were you going to show off how strong you are or where you going to continue to chit chat?" 

"We were just wrapping up. I'm ready when you are." As soon as Juliet said this she was nearly knocked down on her back. It took a minute to get back to her feet since the wind had been knocked out of her. _Rinzler isn't so tough, but he is fast I'll give him that. _

_ Go for his head. _

_ Why are you helping me?_

_ Do you know how hard it is to find bodies? If you die I certainly don't want to go into Clu._

Rinzler was circling her looking for an opening when he sprung again.

Juliet jumped out of the way before swiping the Keyblade at his helmet scratching it.

Rinzler paused for a moment bringing his hand up to where the scratch was. He looked up at Clu who looked indifferent.

"You didn't like that did you? What's the matter? Are you going to go cry to your Daddy?" She quickly stepped out of the way when Rinzler through his disk at her. "You're not so tough. You won't even show me your face and I'm just some girl."

The goading only seemed to making Rinzler angrier, but his attacks were starting to become erratic. Even though Rinzler's attacks weren't hitting their marks they were still furious.

"You're losing steam Rinzler. Maybe you should stop now." Juliet swung the Keyblade up at Rinzler's helmet again hitting the scratch again; a dent was starting to form.

Rinzler was now so obviously enraged that he threw his disk aside and pounced knocking her onto her back.

Juliet hadn't expected this and felt a pair of strong hands wrap around her throat. She could feel Rinzler squeezing and momentarily forgot about the Keyblade and began scratching at his hands. _I'm not going to let some computer program kill me. _

_ Well then get him off you._

She tried again to pry Rinzler's hands off her neck only to feel his grip tighten.

_Obviously you need my help._

Rinzler was digging his fingers when he felt something smack him hard in the chest.

Juliet got to her knees trying to catch her breath when she saw dark vapor recede back into her chest.

_You're welcome. Now be a dear and get rid of him._

_ It will be my pleasure._ Taking advantage of Rinzler's temporary weakened state Juliet rammed the Keyblade into the dent on his helmet.

At first it didn't look like it had done any damage, but when Rinzler went to attack again part of the helmet fell away revealing mottled grey skin beneath. He reached up to touch where his shield had come away before staggering backwards.

"Is that it? Are you done?" 

Clu looked stunned. No one had ever defeated Rinzler and it looked like his pet had been stunned into submission. "What are you doing? Get back in there and kill her."

Rinzler looked torn between wanting to obey his master and wanting to get as far away from Juliet as possible. He half heartily threw his disk again, but it skidded to the floor.

"See you're not so tough. All I did was make a little crack in your helmet and you're running away with your tail between your legs."

The stunned look on Clu's face turned to rage which was directed at Rinzler. "What are you doing? Don't run away. She's only a little girl."

For all of Clu's shouting it looked like Rinzler was out of steam. Still cradling where his helmet was cracked he turned and made his way out of the arena.

Akio who was standing next to Clu began to back away thinking it wouldn't be too smart to stick around. He quickly made his way down to the arena where Juliet was already walking away. "You're really crazy you know that? I thought Rinzler was going to kill you." 

"Well he didn't. Strange though how he got so upset after getting his helmet cracked a little bit."

"You know his name wasn't always Rinzler."

"What was his name?"

"Tron I think. Anyway let's get out of here before Clu comes to his senses."


	5. Chapter 5

[A/N: I really hope this story doesn't turn into something that kicks me in the feels every time I write a new chapter. So do expect some feels in this chapter. The next chapter will be a bit lighter and there will probably be more feels. Reviews are appreciated. Enjoy the chapter!]

While Juliet was watching Akio type something into the computer to take them back to Radiant Garden she saw another option. "What's that one called?"

"That's Space Paranoids."

"Let's go there."

"Ok, as long as we don't go near Commander Sark or the MCP."

After they'd been sucked through another beam of light Juliet was looking around the cell that they'd landed in. "It doesn't look that much different than the Grid."

"Well they're both computer worlds. I'm actually a bit familiar with this world so I could give you a tour."

"Lead on then." 

As they walked through the hall Akio couldn't help, but notice the lack of programs. "I wonder where everyone is. I thought at least Yori would be here."

"Who's Yori?"

"A program."

"A female program?"

"Yes."

"Your face is red. She must be pretty."

"It's not that. When I was here with Clementine while we were looking for you Yori was a big help."

"Why were you and Clementine looking for me?"

"Because before we got separated we were traveling together."

"But why were we together in the first place?"

"Well, I'm not exactly sure how you met Erik in the first place, but he told you that if you went and found the Princesses of Heart that you could get home."

"And who are the Princesses of Heart?"

There was a lift in front of them that Akio stepped onto. "That's easy. Snow White, Cinderella, Aurora, Jasmine, Belle, Alice, and Kairi are the Princesses of Heart."

"So you and Clementine helped me look for them."

"Yep."

"Why? You had nothing to gain from it."

"Just because we had nothing to gain from it. We were your friends so why not help you."

"But because you helped me and didn't take me to Clu you can't go home now. Did you stop to think about that?"

"Yeah, but I weighed my options and thought it would a better idea to help you. What can I say I'm a sucker for a damsel in distress."

Juliet rolled her eyes. "I'm hardly a damsel in distress. I can take care of myself."

The lift stopped at the entrance of another long hall. "Actually, if I remember correctly. A wraith attacked you and I got it off you. And if you don't remember what wraiths are they're these monsters that Erik was using. That dog that attacked you was one of them."

_Is all this true?_

_Every word of it._

"Well, even if Erik was s bad guy before I think he's turned over a new leaf."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because when I was fighting Rinzler he helped me."

"He only helped you because there's something in it for him."

"You have a point. He did say he didn't want to go look for a new body."

Akio was heading into a large round room that had another dark doorway at the far end. "We fought this wraith called the Virus here. It was really goopy looking and florescent green. I think Puck was the one who sent it out too."

"Who's Puck?"

"Of course you don't remember Puck. He was one of Erik's followers. He had two sisters named Antonia and Chiyo, but I don't know what happened to them. They just kinda disappeared after the End of the World was destroyed. But the weird thing was that Puck was trying to help me and Clementine."

"Why?"

_Because he was disobedient and was trying to get on my nerves._

"He said it was because he didn't like the life he was leading anymore. In hindsight I guess we should have believed him. If I could find him again I'd apologize for not taking his word for it."

"What about Antonia?"

"Screw Antonia. There wasn't one decent bone in her body."

"And Chiyo?"

"Well at first I thought she wasn't that bad since she wasn't off causing trouble. In fact she seemed really concerned about Erik since he was in the process of dying…..something about how his body couldn't handle the darkness in his heart anymore. Now however I'm starting to think she's just as bad as Erik."

They were getting close to the doorway.

"Why? Because she attacked me? You know you really shouldn't concern yourself with my well being. You should look out for yourself instead of others."

Akio was very quickly getting sick of Juliet's 'I don't give a shit about anyone and they shouldn't give a shit about me either attitude.' "Well, there's a very simple reason for why I concern myself with you and I think I speak for Clementine too when I say this. We're your friends. Friends look out for each other. You don't know how many times I kicked myself for leaving you behind. I couldn't help, but think it was my fault that Erik got a hold you because we got in a fight then you went off on your own. That's my reasoning. Take it or leave it."

Juliet didn't have a good reply that and continued to follow him into the room at the end of the tower. "You shouldn't blame yourself for what happened to me. It was probably me being stupid and narrow minded. I have a bit of a problem with that. I almost left Woody behind when he thought it would be better to go to some museum in Tokyo then be loved by a child. Where are we anyway?" 

"I/0 Tower. And you know when we get back to Radiant Garden you should really apologize to Clementine. We could use her."

"What do you mean we? There is no we in this? I'm going to go to the other worlds by myself to fix whatever it is that I messed up."

"Have you not been listening to me? We're your friends. Neither me nor Clementine are going to let you go out on your own again. And especially not now that you've got Erik in your heart and Chiyo foaming at the mouth to take a chunk out of you."

"You want to come with so badly then fine come with, but you better be able to keep up." Juliet walked back out of the I/0 Tower heading for the docks that were on the other side of the room. "What are those?"

"The solar sailors, but let's not use them."

"Why not?"

"Because we'll get too close to Sark and the MCP."

"I'm not scared of them."

"I'm sure you aren't, but let's not go there."

"I'm going. You can stay here if you want." 

Akio watched her walk towards the dock before going after her. "I told you I wouldn't leave you behind again and I'm not going to this time either. Besides I'm sure the two of us could take on Sark and the MCP is push came to shove."

"Good, I'm glad you're seeing things my way. Now how do you operate this?"

"Let me do that."

Juliet was still feeling curious about how exactly she'd become friends with Akio and Clementine since she thought they should mind their own business, but kept her mouth shut since she didn't want to hear another speech.

After a little while of flying Akio docked the solar sailor at their destination. "Well here we are. It doesn't look like Sark is around."

"What about the MCP?"

"It's in there." He was pointing down the hall at a large white building.

"Why doesn't it come out?"

"It doesn't move. It never moves."

"Sounds lazy. What does MCP even stand for?"

"Master Control Program." Akio could hear boots coming towards them and could only guess it was Commander Sark since they hadn't seen any other programs. "You see that guy in orange coming towards us?"

"Yeah."

"That's Commander Sark."

Like how she'd met Clu, Juliet wasn't blown away by Sark. "He just looks like a guy."

"He's a commander."

"So?"

Sark was now close enough to get a good look at Juliet and Akio. "And what are two programs doing in these parts?" He had a smug look on his face that gave off the impression that he thought he was better than them." 

Juliet really didn't like the look Sark was giving them. "We're here to see the MCP."

"Why? The MCP is very busy and can't be bothered with two insignificant programs."

"Busy doing what? Sleeping?"

A muscle in Sark's lip twitched.

"Juliet, what are you doing? You're making him angry."

"The MCP is a very busy program since its running the system. Any business you have with the MCP you can tell me and I'll tell it."

"Look Sark, I think there's something you don't understand I want to see the MCP and you aren't going to get in my way." She tried to step around him when he blocked her.

"Actually program, I think you're the one who doesn't understand. No one sees the MCP unless I say they do."

"Well then if I can't fight the MCP I'll fight you."

Akio quickly pulled Juliet back. "I am so sorry about her Commander Sark normally Juliet is very friendly and would never prosperously pick a fight with you or the MCP." He tightened his grip on her arm when she tried to pull away.

Sark's expression didn't change. "Make sure you keep her under control. Renegade programs aren't worth my time."

"Say that again."

"Juliet shut up." With a bit of difficulty Akio pulled her back to the solar sailor.

"Why'd you stop me?"

"Because you don't need to pick a fight with everyone you see." 

_Too bad could have been fun._

During the ride back to the I/0 Tower, Juliet didn't talk to Akio since the only things that kept coming to mind were negative. She still didn't engage him when they were walking back to the computer in the cell.

"You want to be pissed at me fine be pissed, but I did for your own good." Akio walked over to the computer and brought up the menu to get back to Radiant Garden.


	6. Chapter 6

[A/N: This chapter wasn't supposed to be feelsy, but it ended up that way. Do expect Juliet's attitude problem to be fixed after this chapter. This chapter would have been up earlier, but I received a very pleasant shock this morning. Reviews are appreciated. Enjoy the chapter!]

As they were walking back to through Radiant Garden, Juliet noticed that instead of being ignored completely the villagers were starting to emerge, but they weren't talking to her. Instead they were more interested in Akio. "You're popular."

Akio glanced back at her as a child tugged at his pant leg to get his attention. "Well, I guess that's because me and Clementine helped with the heartless clean up after Maleficent died."

The little girl continued to pull on Akio's pant leg before thrusting one chubby hand at him. "This is for you." In her hand was a piece of bread with walnuts and raisons in it in the shape of a heart. She hurried off before he could say anything.

The bread was still warm and smelled pleasant. He tore off a chunk and offered it to Juliet. "You can have some if you're hungry."

She devoured the chunk in a matter of seconds licking her fingers to get all the crumbs.

"Hungry aren't you?" Akio tore off another chunk which she more or less snatched out of his hand. "Well don't worry there will be plenty of food where we're going. Clementine should be at Merlin's house. I'm surprised Merlin didn't go back to Camelot actually."

It didn't take very long to get to Merlin's house. The inside of the house was cozy with a fire in the grate. Clementine was seated in an armchair talking with an old man wearing blue with a long white beard. She smiled at Akio, but didn't nearly as excited to see Juliet. "Oh…its only you."

"Clementine, I'm here because I have something I need to say to you."

Clementine looked over at a large book that was on a desk. "You know I think I may have a way of calming you done. You see that book there?"

"What about it?"

"There are some folks in it that may be able to help you. Just go over there and take a look."

Juliet walked over to the book and picked it up. "Winnie the Pooh?" 

_Oh dear God not that book. I thought I was rid of them._

_ Rid of who?_

_ The animals that live in the book._

_ It can't be that bad. I think I'll take a look. _

The area she ended up in looked like it was on the outskirts of a forest. There was a house built into a tree trunk up ahead. She walked a little closer when she saw something very strange.

It looked like a bear was stuck in a hole.

"Are you ok?"

The bear looked up at her. "Actually I think I'm stuck."

"So I can see. What are you doing in there?"

"Well, you see….Rabbit said he had honey and I think I ate a little too much."

"Do you want some help getting out of there?"

"Help would be nice."

Juliet grabbed onto his arms and put one of her feet on the side of the wall. "Ok, I'm going to pull. Try and wiggle when I pull all right?" Even though Juliet was pulling as hard as she could it didn't feel like the bear was coming loose at all. "You know this would be a lot easier if someone was pushing you from the other side. Stay there I'll go look for someone."

"Rabbit should be around here somewhere."

"Rabbit? Ok, I'll look for him. What was your name anyway?"

"Winnie the Pooh. Pooh for short."

As Juliet walked through the garden she could hear what sounded like bouncing, but before she could figure out what was making the noise she was knocked over.

What was staring down at her was a tiger with an extremely bouncy tail. "I've never seen you around here before. Who are you?"

"Juliet. Would you mind getting off me?"

The tiger only sat down on her stomach. "Well I'm Tigger. T. I. Double grr."

_Didn't I warn you about the stuffed animals? They're imbeciles. _

_ Of course they're imbeciles the only thing they have in their heads is stuffing. But they seem friendly._ "Look, Tigger was it? I'm glad I ran into you. I could use some help getting Pooh out of a hole."

"You mean Pooh's got himself stuck in Rabbit's house again?"

"This happens often?"

"More often than you'd think. Pooh loves honey."

"Well maybe he should control himself a little next time."

"Why?"

"Never mind. Do you think you can help me with him?"

Tigger got off her and began bouncing over to where Pooh was.

"Ok, Tigger what I need from you is to go in Rabbit's house and push ok?"

"Roger that." 

Juliet grabbed onto Pooh's arms again bracing her foot against the hill. "Ok, push." This time it felt like Pooh was coming loose. She jerked hard again before falling on her back as Pooh came sailing out. "Ok, good mission accomplished."

Pooh didn't look at all upset that he'd just been yanked out of a hole and instead got up and dusted himself off. "Thank you so much, Juliet. Do you want to come home with me and have some honey?"

"About the honey Pooh maybe you should try moderation next time."

"What's moderation?"

"Moderation is when you don't stuff yourself to the point of getting stuck in a hole."

Pooh scratched his head in thought before taking her by the hand and leading her towards a path. "I'll try moderation tomorrow."

Once they were in Pooh's house Juliet was given a large jar of honey. She pushed it aside to see Pooh start to chow down. "Pooh, do you remember meeting a man named Erik? Well I guess he would have been a boy the last time he was here."

_Don't mention me._

_ Why not?_

_ Because I have some not so fond memories here._

Pooh removed his face from the honey jar. "Erik? Did he have black hair?"

"I think so."

"I kinda remember him. He wasn't very nice."

"I can imagine."

"I think he was so mean because he didn't have any friends and was lonely. I tried to be his friend."

_Did you really not have any friends?_

_ Friends don't matter._

_ Yes they do._

_ How would you know? You've been pushing your so called friends away. _

"Do you not have any friends, Juliet? Is that why you're here?"

"Well there are these two. Akio and Clementine I think you've met them."

"Ah, yes I remember them. They're very nice."

Juliet sighed to herself and looked down at her feet. "And you know Pooh I've been treating them really badly. Especially Akio."

"Why?"

"I don't know. There's just something in me telling to keep them away so I don't hurt them."

"Friends don't purposely hurt friends. I'm sure they'd understood if you told them."

That actually sounded like good advice. Juliet hadn't actually explained to either of them why she wanted to be on her own.

Pooh stood up and began walking over to the door. "I'll show you how to be a good friend. Let's go visit my best friend, Piglet."

It turned out Piglet's house was built into a tree too. Pooh knocked on the door, but there wasn't an answer. "I thought Piglet would be home."

"Pooh is that you?"

Juliet looked up into the tree to see Piglet stuck in the branches. "How did you get up there?"

"A gust of wind came by."

"Well stay there I'll come up there and get you." It wasn't that hard for Juliet to climb the tree and easily got up to where Piglet was. "Can you walk over here?"

Piglet looked over at Juliet then down the ground. He covered his eyes with his ears before crawling over to her.

Juliet was a little surprised that someone so small would have such a strong grip. "Don't worry I'm not going to drop you." Since she was cradling Piglet to her chest it was a bit more difficult to climb back down. There was the sound of flapping wings from over ahead and she looked up to see an owl staring down at her.

"Well isn't this odd. I know everyone in the 100 Acre Wood, but I've never seen your face before."

"I'm not from around here." Juliet heard the branch she'd just put her foot on creak beneath her feet.

The owl fluttered down so that he was perched on the branch she was holding. "Well it's awfully friendly of you to help Piglet out of the tree."

"Don't mention it." Juliet had only applied a bit more weight to the branch before it snapped under her weight. Luckily for Piglet she landed on her back.

Piglet quickly got off her looking around fretfully. "Oh dear I are you ok?"

"I'm fine just give me a minute to catch my breath."

_See what happens when help others? I thought you'd learned your lesson from Andy's Room._

_ What was I supposed to do? Leave him in the tree?_

_ Yes._

_ You're unbelievable has anyone ever told you that? _Juliet sat up rubbing the sore spot in the middle of her back.

Owl had come down to the ground by this point. "Well that wasn't a very graceful landing, but at least you got Piglet down. And I must say you have very peculiar eyes. I don't think I've ever seen mismatched colors before."

Juliet leaned back when Owl leaned in. "Well now you have." She glanced over at Pooh and Piglet to see that they were deep in conversation. "I think I've over stayed my welcome. I'd better go."

Pooh saw Juliet leaving and hurried over to grab her hand. "But you haven't seen Starry Hill yet."

Even though Juliet would have really preferred to just leave she allowed Pooh to lead her to Starry Hill.

Unlike the rest of the world Starry Hill was dark the only source of light was the numerous bright stars that were twinkling overhead. She sat down next to Pooh looking up at the sky. Juliet couldn't help, but feel a little jealous from the way Pooh was getting along so easily with Piglet. _Why can't I be like that?_

_ Because you're an awful human being._

_ What makes you say that?_

_ Well, you're always getting into fights, you're cruel to the two people who care about you most, you just act rotten all the way around. _

Juliet could feel tears stinging her eyes. It had hurt when the Prospector had called her names and it hurt just as bad when Erik said it.

_You're going to cry now? I thought you were made of tougher stuff then that. _

_ Shut up I don't want to hear your voice._

_ Well I'm going to keep talking. You were even working for me at one point did you know that?_

_ Shut up shut up!_

Pooh could hear her sniffing and looked over. "Juliet, are you ok?"

"I'm fine just keep talking to Piglet don't worry about me."

"No, you're crying. What's the matter?"

"Nothing's the matter." What Juliet didn't expect was to feel a pair of arms go around her neck. "What are you doing?" 

"Has no one ever hugged you before?"

She couldn't remember being hugged at least not in her recent memory. A little timidly she wrapped her arms around Pooh.

_So you're just going to hug it out? Is that your master plan?_

Juliet ignored him and tightened her grip.

After about a minute Pooh pulled away. "Feel better?"

"Much better actually….thanks…" Juliet stood up to go. "I really need to get going now."

"Will you ever come back?"

"Yeah, I'll come back I mean if you really want to see me again."

"You're my friend. Yes, I want to see you again."

When Juliet got back into Merlin's house it felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. "Clementine, Akio I have something important I need to say to you. Especially you Akio. I have recently come to the conclusion that I have been treating you two really poorly and what I'm trying to say is that I'm sorry. We're supposed to be friends and if I were a half decent friend I wouldn't treat you guys like dirt. I'm going to go now…." Juliet went to open the door when Clementine shut the door.

"Do you really think we're just going to let you go out on your own? We're going with you wherever it is that you're going."

"Really? Well I guess you can come if you're so inclined, but don't slow me down all right?"


	7. Chapter 7

[A/N: This chapter kinda happened at random. I absolutely could not think of anything, but as soon as I started on it the words just kept coming. A quick word about Gantu I don't really view him as a villain. I know in Lilo & Stitch he might as well be the villain, but I just can't connect the two in my head. Reviews are appreciated. Enjoy the chapter!]

This current predicament wasn't a very good one. According to the map they were in Deep Space, but as soon as they'd landed a large shark looking creature had hauled them off to the prison block. Even though Juliet had gone complacently every fiber of her being had told her to beat him over the head with the Keyblade. So now they were stuck in individual cells. The bed she was laying on wasn't very comfortable, but that the comfort of the bed wasn't what she was thinking of. What she was thinking of was how to get out of this tiny room.

Outside was the electronic whirring of something coming up to her level.

Juliet propped herself up on her elbows to see who had come to pay her a visit, but wasn't sure what to make of what was staring back at her.

The alien was tall and green skinned with a slightly pinched repletion face with large feet wearing some kind of uniform with a long cape.

_Oh, not her._

_ That's a female?_

_ Of course it's a female can't you tell?_

_ No. It looks like an it to me._

The alien pressed a series of buttons on the side of the cell door which dropped the glass. "I think this is a little more amicable." She walked into the cell, but kept on the other side so that she was a safe distance from Juliet. "Sit."

Juliet had been standing, but there was something authoritative about this woman's voice that made her want to obey.

The woman had her arms behind her back and her posture was very rigid. She gave off the air of someone you wouldn't want to cross. "Do you know where you are?"

"Deep Space?"

"Yes. Do you know who I am?"

Juliet shook her head and went to stand up when she got a hard stare and quickly sank back down to the bed.

"I am the Grand Council Woman. I suppose you can say I rule this world."

"Ok…who was that big guy who brought us in here?"

"You must be talking about Captain Gantu."

"Yes, him. Do you think you could tell him to be a little gentler next time? He nearly pulled my arm out of its socket."

There was no change in the expression on the Grand Council Woman's flat face. "You know the last time you were here you caused quite a bit of trouble for me. You and those two others. Not the ones who are with you now." She walked over to Juliet and pulled her face up. "All though your face looks different this time. As I recall correctly both your eyes were black last time. Now only one of them is. Why?"

Juliet was wishing the Grand Council Woman would let go since her hand felt like it could break her jaw. "Well, that's easy enough to explain. I have a parasite inside my heart."

"What kind of parasite?"

"His name is Erik if that rings any bells."

The Grand Council Woman's eyes narrowed. "Yes, I remember hearing about him. I had the displeasure of meeting him once. He was an evil little boy and its unfortunate that he's attached himself to you."

"You're telling me. So are you going to let us out?"

She let go of Juliet's face and took a step back. "I suppose we could work out a compromise. This space station has a rather unfortunate infestation right now."

"Infestation of what?"

"They're called heartless. If you'd be willing to get rid of them then you'll be treated as welcomed guests."

"And you're going to let Akio and Clementine out too, right?"

"Not yet. I don't fully trust you and if I release your companions you may just leave."

"I won't leave I promise."

"No. I'll let them out once you've held up your end of the bargain."

Even though Juliet thought this was really unfair she followed the Grand Council Woman out of the cell and onto the lift. She as a little surprised at how many cells there were and there were some dangerous looking individuals in here. "Do you guys have a problem with delinquents?"

"We have strict laws."

Juliet had her back turned not noticing that a heavy set purple alien with four eyes was trying to get her attention.

The Grand Council Woman did notice this and gave him a rather nasty look.

Once they were on the ground Juliet heard the doors slid open with a hiss. She rolled her eyes at the sight of Captain Gantu.

Gantu gave her a look of reproach in return before looking down at the Grand Council Woman. "Your grace, do you really think it's a good idea to let her out? She's a prisoner and belongs in a cell."

"She is going to help us with our problem, Gantu. Give her no problems."

Making sure the Grand Council Woman had her back turned as they walked out Juliet stuck her tongue out at Gantu.

They were in a long hall, but what confused Juliet was that the Grand Council Woman was going in the opposite direction. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going to leave you to your task. I wouldn't want to be a bother."

Now that Juliet was alone the lonely feeling was starting to creep up again. "Ok, no worries you can handle this. This you were on your own for a while anyway." She began to walk down the hall when the lights changed from white to red casting an eerie light along the hall. "Ok, that was a little creepy." As she continued down the hall she could hear growling behind her and glanced over her shoulder to see gold eyes peering at her. "Not that dog again."

It wasn't Chiyo, but instead a short stubby looking black thing with antenna.

"That's a heartless? It's kinda cute."

_Don't let cuteness fool you. The only thing that shadow wants is your heart._

Right on cue the heartless sprung at her, but was easily knocked aside with the Keyblade. It got up again, but was again knocked aside. Since it was only a shadow it dissolved quickly afterwards.

"That's it? That was easy."

_Oh, don't you worry there's more where that one came from._

_ How would you know?_

_ Because I'm the one who set them loose. _

_ Good for you. I'm going to get rid of them. _She walked into another hall, but as soon as she did the doors on either side began to slide shut.

More heartless began to materialize from the darkness in the halls. These were a bit bigger than the shadow and were wearing armor.

Juliet had to duck out of the way when one of the soldiers spun on its foot using its other leg as a projectile.

_Even if you do get past the soldiers there are plenty of bigger ones waiting for you._

_ Thanks for the heads up. _Juliet swung her Keyblade forward successfully knocking the soldier down.

Two of the heartless's companions began the same one legged dance that the first one had done.

"They're armor is loud its going to give them away." The soldiers were also easily dispensed of. "I'm not even breaking a sweat." She walked through the now open doors finding herself outside a room.

The inside of the room was circular with a several raised platforms. Sitting against the wall was a computer of some kind.

Juliet walked over to the computer and since she hadn't learned her lesson from the last time she'd tinkered with a computer pressed a button.

_Congratulations you turned the gravity off. And I was just thinking of how you said you weren't breaking a sweat. I'm going to have to something about that._

Juliet grabbed onto the edge of the platform to keep herself from floating upwards. _Don't you dare._

_ I dare._

_ I mean it Erik don't you do it. _

He hadn't listened because floating in front of Juliet was a large heartless with a large belly and beady eyes.

_What the hell is that?_

_ A large body. Enjoy. _

She had to let go of the lift to attack the large body, but to her surprise the Keyblade ricocheted off its belly. She smacked it again so hard that when the Keyblade came back it nearly smacked her in the nose. "So I can't attack it from the front? Let's try from behind." Since the gravity was turned off it was easy for her roll over the top of the heartless and smacked it in the back.

The heartless grunted finally registering that it was being attacked. It swung one of its heavy arms at her. After a few more blows to the back the heartless dissolved.

Juliet grabbed onto the frame of the door that she was passing and swung herself through the opening. "That wasn't too hard. I wouldn't call a couple heartless an infestation. I'm not even tired."

_Just keep going._

She was on the ledge of a large room that at first didn't look like it had anything in it. Juliet peered over the edge of the ledge when she felt her tongue dry up. "I see…it is an infestation."

At the bottom of the room were hoards and hoards of heartless. Some small like the shadows and soldiers and others bigger like the large body.

The door hissed open to reveal Captain Gantu. "Well it looks like you found the infestation."

"Yeah, I did. So how about you give me a hand with this?"

Gantu didn't respond right away and instead aimed his blaster at her. "Or maybe you could deal with it on your own like you said you would."

"I doubt I can take on all of them at once. If you help me it will go a lot faster." She took a step back when Gantu began to walk forward. "And get that thing out of my face."

Using his other hand Gantu reached forward and grabbed Juliet by the front of her shirt holding her over the edge of the pit. "You know I don't like humans."

"So I can tell."

"So I'm going to get rid of you."

Before Juliet could react she felt Gantu let go of her. She landed hard on her back the force knocking the wind out of her. It took her a minute to sit up, but when she did she realized that every pair of gold eyes was on her. "Oh that's not good."

The heartless were relentless with their attack and since there were so many of them it was hard to figure out who was attacking her.

_What were you saying about not breaking a sweat?_

Up at the top of the room Gantu was wondering if he'd done the right thing. He knew that if the Grand Council Woman found out that there would be some pretty nasty consequences. He looked back down again to see Juliet get knocked over. "Fine, fine I'll help."

Juliet heard a crash as Gantu joined her on the ground. "Well its about time."

Gantu proved to be a very good marksman and thanks to his size he could easily step on the smaller ones.

After what felt like hours the last of the heartless had been cleared away. Instead of sitting down to catch her breath Juliet marched over to Gantu and promptly smacked him in the leg with the Keyblade smirking in satisfaction when she heard a pained yelp. "What were you thinking throwing me down here?"

"I don't like humans."

"That's not excuse. What if I died? Then how would you feel? Or better yet how would you explain it to the Grand Council Woman?"

Gantu had been thinking about that which was why he'd come down. "Well, are you all right?"

"No, I'm sore and I'm tired. If you really want to make it up to me you'll give me a ride back to the Grand Council Woman."

"Absolutely not. I'm not your pack mule."

"Then I'll tell her what you did. And I know you don't want that."

Gantu was having a furious silent debate with himself. On one hand she was a human, but on the hand she'd tell on him. Finally he sighed angrily to himself before picking her up and placing her on his shoulders. "Happy?"

"Yes, very. Wow, the view from up here is great. I can see why being tall has its perks." 

When they got to the Grand Council Woman's chambers Juliet was surprised to see Akio and Clementine. "What are you guys doing here?"

"I decided to let them out. I spoke with both of them and they assured me that you meant no harm." She looked up at Gantu with the ghost of a smile on her face. "And I see Captain Gantu has made a friend."

"Yes, he was very helpful."

"Get down human."

Juliet unhooked her legs from Gantu's neck and slid down his back. "Thank you for letting me use you as a pack mule, Gantu. I'll have to pay you back the next time I see you."

"You can pay me back by keeping your mouth shut." 

"Consider my lips sealed."


	8. Chapter 8

[A/N: This chapter would have been up yesterday, but I got busy during the time I normally set aside to work on this and then I went and saw the Hobbit and needless to say that has been dominating my creativity. I've dabbled in Hobbit fics a bit, but don't ever expect to see them here. To avoid doing the same thing with the tournaments that I did in Dearly Beloved I did something a bit different in this chapter so hopefully everyone will enjoy it. Reviews are appreciated. Enjoy the chapter!]

There was bright sun light streaming down on them. Behind them was a dark hallway, but in front was a long dusty path that was lined with pots with two stone gladiators in front of a massive doorway. 

"Well it looks like we're in Olympus Coliseum." Juliet tucked the map back into her pocket and started to walk towards the doors not noticing that Akio was hanging back.

Akio was looking back at the dark door before he realized he was being left behind. "Well, I'm sure Hercules would be glad to see you."

"Hercules is the son of Zeus." 

"Who's Zeus?"

"Well, Zeus is kinda like the ruler of this world."

"Look there's Phil. Hi Phil!" Clementine was waving enthusiastically at a fat satyr who was pacing out in front of the doors. "He looks worried. I wonder if something's wrong." She walked up to him and crouched down. "Is something up with you, Phil?"

Phil looked a bit started to see Clementine. "Oh, it's only you. Well Herc is hooked up on this girl and now she's disappeared. He went down into the Underworld to look for her."

"What's her name?"

"Meg or something like that."

Clementine walked back to Juliet and Akio. "Well it looks like Hercules is down in the underworld looking for his girlfriend. I bet Hades got her."

Juliet turned and started walking towards the black door. "The Underworld is through there isn't it?"

Phil had heard what they were discussing and hurried over. "You know if I recall correctly you were in league with Hades." He was looking at Juliet when he said this.

"Well I'm not anymore. Believe me if this Hades guy is as bad as you're making him out to be I want nothing to do with him. I have my own problems."

Phil still looked a bit skeptical. "I like Akio and Clementine, but you I'm not so sure of."

"How about this Phil: if I help Hercules save Meg will that make a little better in your book?"

"Only if you help Hercules. You two keep a close eye on her."

As they continued to walk back to the dark door Juliet was feeling a little on edge. "Was it really as bad as Phil says it is? I mean with the stuff I was doing."

Akio and Clementine exchanged worried looks before he spoke up. "Well….it could have been worse…."

"That didn't answer my question. Just tell me I can handle it." 

"Erik had you brain washed and you were doing a lot of horrible things, but it was because he was telling you."

"What kind of horrible things?"

Akio looked over at Clementine. "You want to help me out with this?"

"I think what Erik was doing was having you do was go around corrupting people's hearts. I saw you do it King Triton in Atlantica."

Now that Juliet thought back to Geppetto it made sense. "I think I know what you're talking about. There was this puppet maker in Traverse Town with all black eyes. I fixed his heart, but before that he was attacking me with these demon puppets."

By this point they were in the entrance of the Underworld. There were two massive stone doors, but it was only possible to go through one of them since a wall of fire blocked the other. In the middle of the room was a pool of green liquid.

"So which door is Hades through?"

Akio pointed over at the door that the fire wasn't blocking. "He's down there."

"Well let's go pay him a visit."

The corridors of the Underworld were long dark and twisting with many misty white orbs floating about.

"What the orbs?" Juliet reached out to touch one when Clementine jerked her hand away.

"Those are spirits. Don't touch them."

It didn't sound like there was anyone in the Underworld or so they first thought. There was the sound of a slashing sword and fists making impact with stone walls. The one making all the noise was a very strong looking young man with red hair with a gold buckle on his belt emblazoned with a lightning bolt. At the moment he was being swarmed with heartless.

"Is that Hercules? Well, let's go help him whoever he is."

Hercules knocked down several more heartless when he realized someone was helping him. "Juliet? I never thought I'd see you again. What are you doing down here?"

"Oh you know just seeing the sights."

"Seeing the sights of the Underworld?"

"Yeah, what can I say I like dark spooky things."

Clementine had nearly been knocked over by a heartless when she looked over at Juliet. "Do you two think you could chat later and get rid of the heartless now?" 

"Yeah, sure whatever you want Clementine."

Since there was four of them fighting it didn't take very long for them to take care of the heartless.

Hercules went over to Juliet to hug her like he'd done the last time he'd seen her, but hesitated.

"What?"

"Well I just thinking about the last time I hugged you. You didn't really like it."

"Well its fine now. Come here if you want to hug me." Juliet almost imminently regretted this since Hercules was nearly crushing her. "Ok….we've hugged….you can let go now." She breathed a sigh of relief when he let go. "So you're looking for a girl named Meg?"

"Yes, Hades kidnapped her and I have to get her back."

"She's your girlfriend isn't she?"

Hercules's whole face went pink. "No, it's not like that. Meg is only my friend."

"If you say so."

As they walked deeper into the Underworld, Clementine kept trying to catch Akio's eye. "Are you jealous of Hercules?"

"No. Why would I be?"

"Well Juliet has been talking to him none stop and hasn't said a word to you."

"I know they're friends. They've been friends for a while. She can have friends it doesn't bother me. Besides his face looked like a tomato when she mentioned Meg. There's something there."

Juliet and Hercules were a little further ahead. "So Hercules, how did you meet this Meg girl?"

"Well she was being attacked by Nessus the river guardian and I saved her."

"Was it love at first sight?"

"There is no love. We're only friends."

"If you say so." 

After a while of walking they came into a large room that had a doorway with a soupy looking green light leaking out of it.

"Hades is through there. You guys can hang back if you want."

"You really think I'd pass up the opportunity to fight Hades? Isn't he a God or something?"

"Yes, he's the God of the dead which is exactly why you should stay back and let me handle it."

"Or maybe while you're fighting Hades we could grab Meg. Sound good?" 

"I guess…I mean if you really want to come with."

The next hallway consisted of a long twisting road that was high above pool of same soupy light that had been filtering out of the doorway.

Juliet peered over the side of the path to try and get a better look at the substance. "What's down there?"

Akio noticed that she was leaning over kinda far and pulled her back. "Those are souls. And don't lean over that far or you'll fall in."

"What happens if you fall in?" 

"I'm not sure, but I don't think I want to find out."

There was hot air coming from Hades's chambers which could mean that Hades was having another one of his fiery temper tantrums.

Hercules put his arm to block them. "I'll go in and distract Hades so you can grab Meg."

Juliet peered around Hercules to see a tall brunette woman in a purple dress tied up with smoky

tendrils. "Is that her in purple?"

"Yeah, that's Meg." Hercules drew his sword before walking into the chamber.

Juliet could hear Hercules and Hades talking before a fireball came shooting out at them. "I think that's our cue." She slunk in making sure to keep away from the fight when Hades locked eyes with her.

"Oh jeez not you again. I thought Erik or Maleficent or someone took care of you." Hades felt his temper flare up again when she ignored him. "Going to ignore me are you? Well ignore this." He hurled a fireball at her scorching off half her ponytail.

Hercules aimed a punch at Hades successfully knocking him down. "Remember who you're fighting Hades."

Hades got up again easily and when he noticed that Meg was getting away he created a wall of fire in the doorway.

Juliet was in front of Meg and glanced back at Akio and Clementine. "Keep Meg safe I'll help Hercules."

Hades proved to be slow moving, but very lethal with his fire based attacks. He was having an easier time attacking Hercules who was moving slower then Juliet, but he'd had just about enough of her. He threw another fireball which caused Juliet to duck.

While she was on the ground she swung her leg out knocking Hades off his feet.

Hercules grabbed Hades by the front of his robes and pulled him so close that they were nearly nose to nose. "Have you had your fill Hades or do you want more?"

Hades was weighing his options when he smirked up at Hercules. "You win this time, but don't expect me to let Nutmeg go without a fight." He snapped his fingers collapsing the wall of fire and breaking Meg's chains as well.

Meg smoothed out the wrinkles of her dress before walking over to Hercules to kiss him. "Is there anything you can't do wonder boy?"

The tomato look had returned to Hercules's face as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Well I did have a little help."

Meg glanced over at Juliet and smiled at her. "I wasn't aware that Hercules ever needed help."

"Well I only helped a little."

As they walked back towards the coliseum Akio was back with Clementine again. "What did I tell you? Hercules is in love with Meg."

Phil was more than glad to see Hercules back and rushed over to him. "I bet you gave Hades a what for didn't you, Herc."

"Yeah and Juliet helped too."

"Oh her? Well I guess she's all right."

"Thanks Phil….well I guess we better be going."

"Don't take too long between visits next time, ok?"

"I'll try not to."


	9. Chapter 9

[A/N: This chapter was so supposed to kinda light since it is Disney Town and unlike the 100 Acre Wood I think I achieved that in this chapter. Minnie strikes me as the type who doesn't take crap from anyone which is why she isn't shaking when she sees Juliet. Reviews are appreciated. Enjoy the chapter!]

Disney Town was as bright and colorful as ever, but something seemed off. They'd landed in the main courtyard there were guards in gold armor posted around the area. One of them pointed his spear at Juliet when she went over to a stage. "You're that trouble maker whose been traveling through the worlds. Don't think you're welcome here."

Juliet pushed the spear from her face. "I can assure you that I'm not causing trouble anymore. I'm just seeing the sights. For instance what's that?" She was pointing over at a cannon that was standing in front of the stage.

"That's none of your concern."

"I'm just curious. You don't have to be so grumpy." She looked up at the guard's helmeted head for a few more seconds before frowning at him and walking away. "Let's go look somewhere else."

Akio looked back at the guard who was standing completely still. _Well at least she didn't get in a fight. _"Clementine, do you think it's a good idea that we're here? I mean what if she finds out that we're here?"

"Oh you mean the Queen? I always thought the Queen gave people second chances."

"Yeah, but Juliet did some pretty bad things."

"Maybe we won't even go to the castle."

"What are you two whispering about back there?"

Clementine shook her head hoping Juliet had heard. "We were just discussing your new hair cut. Maybe you'd like someone to trim off the burned pieces?"

"And I was saying it makes you look kinda cool. The black eye and the singed hair makes you look kinda like a bad ass."

Juliet hadn't expected that they'd be talking about her. "Well next time I need a hair cut I could ask Hades. I'm sure he'd be glad to throw another fireball at me." She had walked out into another open area with a giant net in the middle. She saw a horse wearing a plow collar and walked over to him. "Excuse me mister, why is there a giant net out here?"

The horse's previous smile melted away and he put his hands up. "I don't want any trouble." He reached into a cart behind and pulled out an apple the size of a beach ball shoving it into Juliet's hands. "Take what you want and leave me alone."

"I'm not going to do anything to you. I just want to know why the nets here."

The horse put his hands down. "You don't want my heart?"

"No, what would I do with it?"

"Oh, well maybe I got you mixed up with someone else. I'm Horace and the net is up for fruit ball."

"Fruit ball? So you just toss fruit back and forth over the net? Sounds like fun. Akio come here let's play a game. How much?"

The tense look returned to Horace's face. "Its free…no charge…just have fun."

"That's generous. Well thanks Horace." She tossed the apple at Akio. "You start. Winners plays against Clementine."

"You should know that I've had some practice at this game since we last played." 

"Good, don't go easy on me."

Clementine wasn't really paying attention to the game and was trying to catch Horace's eye. "You know Horace she may have done some bad things in the past, but it wasn't her fault."

"She makes you nervous that's all. That black eye is kinda creepy."

"That's because she was something evil in her heart, but its nothing to be worried about." Clementine turned her attention back to the game in time to see Juliet nearly get knocked over by the apple.

Eventually the apple had been smacked around so much that when Juliet went to hit it back it split apart. "Can we eat this fruit? I'm feeling a bit hungry."

Horace jumped when he heard her voice. "Of course you can eat it. There's plenty of giant fruit."

Juliet picked up a large chunk and offered it to Horace. "Let's be friends Horace."

"Oh…ok…" His hands were shaking as he took the bit of apple and he was still expecting her to attack him.

After the apple had mostly been eaten Juliet could hear engines coming from around the corner. "What's over there?"

Horace realized he was being addressed again and looked around the corner. "That's where the rumble races are. You'll want to look for Chip and Dale."

"Well let's go look for Chip and Dale."

There were already racers on the track by the time they got there.

Juliet saw two chipmunks and was about to go over to them when she felt Akio pull her back.

"Maybe I should handle this. You really don't want to scare them like you did with Horace."

"I guess you're right, but tell them they have nothing to be afraid of."

_What's with this overly friendly attitude all of a sudden? I thought you didn't need anyone._

_ Well I decided I didn't like that. Besides I don't like having people be afraid of me._

Akio had to lean down so that he could talk to Chip and Dale. "Are the races still open? There's someone who wants to play."

Chip looked over at Juliet and Clementine. "Which one wants to race?"

"The brunette."

"She can't."

"Why not?" 

"Because she's one of the bad guys. We want nothing to do with her."

"Chip that was a while back. Besides she's changed since then. I thought you believed in second chances."

Chip looked back over at Juliet. "But she let a whole bunch of heartless loose."

"Well she doesn't do things like that anymore."

"You can race if you want, but she can't."

"I'll get you those nuts you like."

"What kind?"

"The candied peanuts. We'll probably end up in the castle so I could get you some. If you let her race that is."

"Give me one minute." Chip turned around bringing his brother into a huddle. They whispered back and forth for a few minutes before Chip turned around. "Deal, but you have to bring the sugared cashews to."

"Deal." Akio walked back over to Juliet and Clementine. "Good news they'll let you race, but we need to stop by the castle before we leave."

Juliet wasn't paying any attention to the part about the castle and hurried over to the track.

On the other hand Clementine's mouth dropped open. "You know that taking her to the castle isn't a good idea."

"I bribed Chip and Dale with nuts to let her race that's why we need to go. We can avoid the Queen."

"I had no idea bribing wasn't below you."

"Well she seemed like she really wanted to race so why not?"

"Be careful that your feelings don't get you in a sticky situation. Remember Antonia in Atlantica?"

"Yes, I remember, but we haven't seen Puck or Antonia in such a long time. They probably won't shut up again."

"Maybe they aren't around anymore, but now we have Chiyo to deal with."

"Who we also haven't seen in a while either."

"She's probably biding her time. You were with her what was she like?"

"She liked Erik. I mean really liked him. She practically worshiped the ground he walked on. If she really wants to do some damage because of what happened to him she can do it."

"All the more reason for us to keep our eye out."

After a few more minutes Juliet rejoined them looking quiet windswept. "What's next?"

Clementine looked down at Akio and pushed him forward.

"There's the castle. I have something I need to get from up there anyway."

"Ok, let's go to the castle."

Disney Castle towered above the rest of the town with a couple towers with flags blowing in the wind. There were more of the gold armored guards posted outside the doors.

Clementine took Juliet by the hand and led her down a set of steps.

They were in a garden with bushes cut in different shapes that resembled animals playing musical instruments.

Clementine walked over to a little door and pushed it open. "Looks clear."

"Why are we being so sneaky?"

"No reason." _Akio just had to go and bribe Chip and Dale._

Once they were in the hall Juliet broke away from them walking down the hall towards a pair of massive shut doors with a much smaller door built in. "What's through their?" 

Before either of them could answer her the smaller door opened. There was a mouse wearing a pink dress and a crown. She looked a bit nervous to see Juliet. "What are you doing here?"

"Just exploring. Oh, let me guess you're afraid of me too."

"You don't scare me, Juliet. I can handle myself just fine." 

"How'd you know my name?"

"I'm the Queen it's my business to know who you are. And I know you were quiet the trouble maker."

"So I've heard. What's your name?"

"Minnie. Actually now that you're here I have something to show you." Minnie opened the smaller door again and walked through it.

The throne room was extremely large, but also very empty. The throne sat by itself in the back and above it was a massive painting of a man with salt and pepper hair with a thin mustache wearing robes of gold and purple.

"Who's the guy?"

Minnie looked a bit sad as she looked up at the painting. "That's King Walt. He was the King many years ago."

"What happened to him?"

"He found out that the darkness was getting stronger and he went to fight it. He never came back."

"He must have been really great if you're this sad over his disappearance."

"I didn't know him personally, but my husband did. Mickey said King Walt was the most wonderful King this world had ever had. I think that's enough sad talk for now. I have something I need you to do for me. Akio, Clementine you come too." Minnie pressed a button on the side of the throne allowing it to slide out of the way. "I'm afraid a neighboring world of ours is having a slight problem." She led the way into the basement where she pointed at a pair of large silver doors. "Through that door is Timeless River and there's a scoundrel whose been causing all kinds of problems."

"What's their name?"

"Mortimer."

_Oh dear not that idiot._

_ You know him?_

_ Yes, and trust me when I say he's an idiot._

"So we just go through the doors? Sounds easy enough."


	10. Chapter 10

[A/N: This chapter is not my best work I'll admit that. I like Timeless River, but I just couldn't get it to flow for some reason. I may go back tomorrow and repost it, but expect the next chapter to sound better this one. Reviews are appreciated. Enjoy the chapter!]

The only way word that could really describe Timeless River was monochrome. The whole world was a shade of grey or white. There was a giant orb in the middle of a grassy field along with four windows.

Juliet looked the same as she had the last time she'd visited Timeless River with shorter hair and a spaghetti strapped dress.

Akio also looked the same, but had removed the fedora.

Clementine had retained her long hair and was wearing a dress similar to Juliet's.

Juliet walked over to one of the windows that was floating in mid air. "I think we should split up. We could cover more ground that way." She didn't wait for a response and went through the first window.

She'd come out on a suspended wooden board. Normally Juliet was fine with heights, but when she looked over the side she felt a little nauseous. "I'm really high up aren't I?" The wind was blowing which made the platform swing.

Before she could regain her footing there was darkness swirling in front of her which shifted into several heartless that looked like airplanes and cars. One of the heartless that looked like a car revved its engine before shooting towards her.

Juliet was nearly knocked off the platform as she tried to dodge. Since she had her back turned one of the airplane heartless began to pelt her with ammo. Juliet jumped up to smack the flying heartless away when the car almost knocked her over again. _Why am I having such a hard time with these heartless? _

The heartless were crowding her towards the edge of the platform.

She could feel her heels coming towards the edge of the platform before she threw the Keyblade at the heartless successfully blowing away most of the heartless. There was only one of the cars left.

The heartless revved its engine again before attempting to run her over again. However, when it did this she got out of the way in time and it wasn't able to stop itself in time before it went sailing over the edge.

Akio had gone into the second window and was in a miniature town. It hadn't changed since the last time he'd been there. "Doesn't look like anyone is here this time either. Probably shouldn't waste my time here." He turned to go when he felt a vibration beneath his feet.

Behind him was a heartless whose body consisted of a large hammer on legs. It smacked its head downwards again sending more vibrations through the ground.

"That is one ugly heartless, but at least there's only one."

The single heartless was easily dispensed of, but when Akio went to go again he came face to face with a small airplane. "That one is just as ugly." He could hear more heartless coming up behind him and looked back to see a couple that resembled cars. "Why are all these heartless so ugly?"

It didn't look like the heartless had appreciated being called ugly because they all attacked at once. Before the heartless could do much damage they stopped their attack.

Peering from out of a dark hole was a pair of gold eyes.

"More heartless? Ok, come out."

Chiyo had been the one watching him, but she didn't look terribly interested in what she'd found. Instead she walked up to him, sniffed his foot, then turned and walked off swatting Akio in the leg with her tail.

"Where are you going? Come back."

Chiyo glanced back at him before sticking her nose in the air and continuing to walk away.

"I'm talking to you don't ignore me."

She continued to ignore him before she clamored through the window.

The window that Clementine had gone through had taken her to a burning building. She assumed that no one was inside since there wasn't any screaming and was about to go when she saw Chiyo staring at her. "What are you doing here? If you're going to try and fight Juliet I should tell you now that I'm going to stop you."

Chiyo rolled her eyes before putting her nose to the ground and sniffed along the ground until she came to another window.

Clementine was a bit bolder then Akio and grabbed onto Chiyo's tail to pull her back. "You think I'm just going to let you leave?"

The wraith growled while looking back at Clementine.

Instead of letting go Clementine yanked hard on her tail, but quickly let go when Chiyo sank her teeth into her hand.

Now that her tail was free Chiyo hopped through the window, but not before summoning a handful of heartless.

By this time Juliet had gotten back into the field. There wasn't any sign of Akio or Clementine and was guessing that they were still in the other windows. She was thinking of going through the fourth window when she saw a shadow going in the direction of the wharf. _It couldn't hurt to poke around a little over there. Who knows maybe I'll find Mortimer. _When she got a bit closer she saw a tall gangly mouse talking to a short woman with long black hair. _That must be Mortimer, but who's the woman?_

_ You really don't remember what Chiyo looks like? She'd be offended I'm sure. In fact I'm going to go tell her that you're here. Be right back._

_ Don't you dare Erik. _It was a very strange feeling to have something ooze out of you even with Juliet's protesting.

Since Erik had been stripped of his physical form he was merely a shadow with an unnerving set of red eyes.

Chiyo had been explaining to Mortimer that he had guests when she saw the shadow. "Master? Is that you?"

"In the flesh…well sort of. I just I'd come by and tell you that Juliet is right around that corner."

Chiyo glanced back at the corner in time to see Juliet go around a corner. "Mortimer, I trust you can take care of this."

"Anything for you doll face."

"I'd call you a dog, but I don't want to insult myself."

Juliet summoned her Keyblade and was about to attack Chiyo when she disappeared. _Why did you tell her I was here?_

_ I'm one of the bad guys remember?_

"I knew it was only a matter of time before you came back."

"What makes you say that?"

"Girls love me they always come back."

Juliet rolled her eyes. "I'm sure. All I want to know is if you're the one who's been setting the heartless loose?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"Why?"

"Because even though Chiyo has a pretty face I don't want to risk making her angry. I've seen her angry face before and it isn't nice."

"Well I'm angry at you for setting the heartless loose. Aren't you concerned about making me angry?"

Mortimer frowned at her. "If I recall correctly and my memory of this is fuzzy because of the head trauma I received your boyfriend is the dangerous one not you."

"Akio isn't my boyfriend, but I suppose if you'd rather have me get angry I guess we can do that too."

Before Mortimer could respond the Keyblade smacked him upside the head.

"Are you going to stop?" 

"You know for a girl you hit hard." He was smacked again.

"I repeat the question. Are you going to stop?"

"No, you're going to have to hit me harder than that."

"All right fine, but remember you asked for this." This time she hit him with so much force that Mortimer fell on his knees. "Give up yet?"

"You're going to have to do that again."

"You're a glutton for punishment, but ok." After a few more smacks she'd knocked him unconscious.

_Pathetic just how I remember. If he would have been smart he would have called out the heartless._

_ You need better taste in minions. Oh well problem solved time to go find Akio and Clementine._

When Juliet got back into the field she found Akio and Clementine waiting for her. "I found Mortimer already. He's back on the wharf passed out with a lump on his head."

"Chiyo was here. We both saw her."

"I saw her too. Oh, and Erik came out of my heart. Apparently he can leave my body for short intervals. Anyway I guess that wraps things up here."

When they got out into the basement Minnie was waiting for them. "So the heartless are gone?"

"I'd say so. I hit Mortimer so hard that he passed out. I don't think he'll be giving you anymore problems. So we'll just get out of your hair, your majesty."

Akio waited until Juliet and Clementine had gone up the stairs before turning to Minnie. "Actually, your highness I have a favor to ask."

"What is it?"

"Would you be willing to part with some of those candied nuts? I promised I'd bring some to Chip and Dale."

"Of course we have plenty."

Akio followed Minnie out of the basement. "Do you guys think you could wait here for me? I need to take those nuts to Chip and Dale."

It felt kinda odd to be on his own. Even when he'd lived in the Grid there had been other guards.

Chip and Dale began to chow down on the nuts as soon as he put the bowl down, but when Akio was walking back to the castle he saw Chiyo walking towards the main courtyard.

She must have noticed him too because she smirked at him before disappearing around the corner.


	11. Chapter 11

[A/N: I think this chapter was a lot better than the previous one. Think of Chiyo and Triton's relationship like Wormtongue and Theoden's in Lord of the Rings since that's where I got the idea. Virtual cookies to those of you who can guess the who the shadows are at the end of the chapter. Reviews are appreciated. Enjoy the chapter!]

Atlantica was not the way Clementine remembered it. The normally clear sparkling ocean was dark and gloomy looking. Above the sea the ocean was full of rough choppy waves. Clementine peeked around the corner of the grotto they'd landed in. "I guess this is to be expected with King Triton being the way he is. Hopefully we can get to him." She was about to swim out of the grotto when someone shot past her.

The mermaid had ignored Akio and Clementine and had gone straight for Juliet throwing her against the wall of the grotto. "What are you doing back here? I don't want you anywhere near my Father."

Clementine grabbed onto the mermaid's shoulders to pull her off. "Ariel, stop it we're here to help."

Ariel looked back at Clementine then back at Juliet. "She doesn't have any business being here not after what she did to my Father." 

"Ariel you have to believe me I just want to help. I know I messed up I think I have a way of fixing this."

Slowly Ariel released Juliet and swam back. "I still don't trust you. You were in league with Ursula."

"Yes, I was, but not anymore. Just take me to your Father."

Ariel led the way out of the grotto when a dark shadow swam past.

Akio had been the only one who'd seen it, but he was too far back to say anything. _That almost looked like Ursula. But isn't she dead? It was probably just a trick of the light. _

Atlantica looked completely deserted. Even the dolphin that normally swam around the courtyard was gone.

Juliet swam a little faster to catch up with Ariel. "What's your Father been doing exactly?"

"He's been making the seas impossible to sail on he's been driving all the other merpeople away. No one is allowed inside the palace. Not even his own daughters. And there's this woman who has been visiting him a lot lately."

"What does this woman look like?"

"Black hair, grey eyes, she has very cruel eyes actually."

_That must be Chiyo. _"We need to get her away from your Father. She's probably been manipulating him."

Even the tritons on the walls seemed to have lost light that they'd given off.

Akio saw the shadow pass by again and tapped Clementine on the shoulder. "I just saw something swim past."

"Could have been a merperson." 

"No it looked like an octopus. I think it could be Ursula."

"But Ursula is supposed to be dead."

"I just saw her. She's down here somewhere."

Clementine swam back over to Juliet and Ariel. "Me and Akio are going to go check something out. Go on without us." She didn't wait for an answer and swam off again. She remembered very clearly where Ursula could be found there was just the problem of getting there and not getting spotted by anything unfriendly.

Once Ariel and Juliet had gotten into the pathway that led to the palace Ariel was starting to hang back. "What if that woman is in there with him?"

"She probably is in there, but there's no time to be scared now." She could see two guards posted outside the palace. "Ariel you should take care of the guards. They know you maybe they'll listen."

Ariel looked a bit pale, but went over to the guards. "I want to see my Father."

"Sorry princess, but the King won't see anyone right now."

"I only want to see him for a minute."

"He won't see anyone."

One of the guards looked around Ariel at Juliet. "Who's your friend?"

"She wants to see my Father too."

"Well neither of you can see him."

Juliet had noticed that this wasn't going the way she'd planned and swam over to Ariel. "Why can't we see the King?"

"Because he's very busy."

During this Clementine and Akio had swam through the tunnel of rapidly moving water and were in the area that was outside Ursula's grotto. Akio saw a shadow swim out of the sunken ship, but it didn't look like Ursula. It looked bigger and fishier. "Didn't you say that there was a shark down here?"

"I thought it would have gone when Ursula died."

"Well I think it's down there."

Clementine grabbed his shoulder when he started to swim towards the ship. "What are you doing swimming towards it?"

"Shouldn't we just get rid of it?"

"Have you seen this shark? It could eat us easily."

"Well we have the element of surprise on our side." Akio shrugged Clementine's hand off and went down towards the ship. He could see the shark swimming around and squeezed through a hole in the ship to get a bit closer.

_I think Juliet is rubbing off on him with this whole diving in head first thing. _ "Akio this really isn't a good idea."

"Be quiet you'll give us away."

The shark wasn't paying any attention to them and instead swam back out of the ship.

Akio continued to follow it when a dark mass began to accumulate in front of him.

The shadow had taken the form of Ursula, but she was armed with the triton.

"Oh that's not good."

Clementine had just joined him in the belly of the ship, but went rigid when she saw the Ursula shadow. "What is that?"

"It looks like Ursula, but it's only a shadow."

Ursula didn't give either of them a parting glance before swimming out of the ship going in the direction of the palace.

Instead of continuing to talk to the guards Juliet had smacked them both hard enough upside the head to knock them out. "Problem solved let's go."

Ariel was staring at her with wide eyes. "Why did you hit them that hard?"

"Well they wouldn't listen to words. They obviously listened to force."

King Triton was seated on his throne rubbing his temples; his eyes dark. At his side was a dark haired mermaid with a black tail.

Ariel looked ready to tear Chiyo apart, but felt Juliet grab her by the tail. "Why are you stopping me?"

"Because Chiyo is very dangerous. I wouldn't take her lightly."

Chiyo didn't look that surprised to see them and leaned down to whisper something in Triton's ear.

Triton stopped rubbing his temples and looked up at them. "What are trespassers doing in my palace?"

"Daddy we're not trespassers we're here to help you."

Chiyo went back to Triton's shoulder. "Your daughter has been disobeying your orders, sire. Maybe you'll want to leave these miscreants to me." 

"Do you think I am too feeble to defend myself? I can get rid of them on my own." Triton rose from his throne with his triton in his fist.

"Daddy stop it this isn't you. That witch has you under a spell."

"Watch who you're calling witch, little girl."

_You know Chiyo could easily get rid of you if the mood suited her. _

_ I'm not going to give her the chance. _ Juliet was snapped out of her thoughts when Triton stabbed at her. _He's fast and strong for an old guy._

Ariel had launched herself at Chiyo, but nearly fell against the wall when the witch simply got out of the way. "Why are you doing this?"

"Because I hate the light."

Triton sent a bolt of magic at Juliet hitting her in the arm. He went to stab her again successfully pinning her to the wall with the triton pressing into her neck. "You can either leave now or face the consequences."

"I'll go, but first I need to do something to you." Juliet rammed the Keyblade into Triton's chest only to get knocked aside.

Chiyo's eyes went wide when she saw this. She wasn't paying any attention to Ariel who had recovered, but did feel a hand grab onto her hair and yank her back.

Triton's eyes were no longer black, but had gone back to their healthy blue color. "What happened? The last thing I remember was this black eyed girl." He looked down at Juliet who was recovering from being smacked with the triton and seized her around the throat. "You little witch it was you."

Ariel grabbed onto her Father's arm to pull him off. "Daddy, its ok she just fixed you. The witch is over there."

Triton looked over at Chiyo releasing Juliet. "You've been giving me poisonous advice for long enough."

Chiyo saw the triton rise and quickly darted from the throne room much to the confusion of the now conscious guards.

"Should we go after her, sire?"

"Let her go. She'll be dealt with another time."

Akio and Clementine had just gotten into the throne room in time to see Chiyo disappear into a dark portal. While they'd been chasing the Ursula shadow it had disappeared as well.

Juliet was massaging her neck when she saw them enter the throne room. "So did you guys find what you were looking for?"

Clementine looked back at where they'd seen Chiyo. "There was this shadow. It looked like Ursula, but it got away."

"Chiyo probably created it. We need to find her and get rid of her."

In a dark remote world Chiyo was cutting her lose. "So I lost King Triton big deal. And the puppet maker was useless anyway. There's plenty more for her to play with." Behind her were six shadows.


	12. Chapter 12

[A/N: Where do I start with this chapter? I re-watched Oliver & Company this morning and I was not impressed. I remember enjoying it a lot more when I was little, but this time I felt like something was lacking. I don't think it was the animation, the story, or songs, but more the characters. I just couldn't sympathize with them. And Sykes needs to go to villain school. Reviews are appreciated. Enjoy the chpater!]

It looked like they'd landed on a shipping dock of some kind, but everything seemed so large. Juliet looked down to see that she had paws. "Did you change our forms, Clementine?"

"Yes, Juliet you're a Siamese, Akio is a German Sheppard, and I'm a Pomeranian."

"Now there's just the question of where we are."

_That's easy you're in New York. There's a charming loan shark named Sykes who lives here whom I'm sure you'll love._

Akio could see a large dark car parked out on the dock. "I wonder if we could ask them if they've seen Chiyo."

The doors of the car opened letting two Dobermans out. One had a red collar and the other a blue color. The dog with the red collar zeroed in on Clementine and puffed his chest out holding his head up. "And what's a lovely lady like you doing out in parts like these?"

Clementine who barely came up to the Doberman's knees had to crane her neck to get a better look at him. "I just got here actually. And I'm not looking for any trouble, but if you start a fight I could defend myself."

The Doberman laughed when he heard this. "A girl who can fight. I like that. You don't have a collar are you a stray?"

"Come on Roscoe we're here to do a job not flirt."

"Yeah, yeah I'm coming DeSoto. I'll see you later baby."

Clementine grimaced in disgust. "Well that was odd. So were we going to see who was in the car?"

Juliet who had been standing under Akio's front paws began walking over to it. "I think I'll do that. I'm the smallest so I could get in easily." She walked over to the door of the car and began to paw at it.

The door opened letting out a cloud of cigar smoke. The man who was in the car was large wearing glasses and a dark suit; a cigar at his lips. He leaned over and picked Juliet up by the scruff of her neck. "Some stray cat?"

_Is this Sykes?  
><em>

_ That is Sykes._

_ Is he dangerous?_

_ I'll let you be the judge of that._

Sykes was peering down at her pulling the cigar from his lips and blowing smoke in her face. "You have odd eyes, cat. I guess I can use you as a chew toy for Roscoe and DeSoto."

_Chew Toy? _Juliet tried to twist herself out of Sykes's grip when he tossed her in the back seat.

Coming up to the car was a man wearing a battered old coat with bad teeth; he was holding a box.

Juliet could hear Sykes talking to the man about money and tried to crawl over the back of the seat to jump through the window when Sykes knocked her back.

Akio was looking in the direction the man had come from and walked down a set of steps where he saw Roscoe and DeSoto. _This place doesn't seem right for some reason. We should get Juliet out of that car before something bad happens. _He heard DeSoto snarl as a small orange paw came out and struck him across the nose.

Clementine squirmed past him when she saw Roscoe again. However, Roscoe wasn't paying any attention to her and was busy trying to intimidate a dog wearing a red scarf. "Roscoe, do you think I could talk to you for a minute?"

"In a minute…"

"No, now." She got in front of him and started to push him towards the door.

"Look at you getting you getting told off by your girlfriend." The speaker was a Chihuahua.

Roscoe growled at him. "You better watch it, pipsqueak."

"Who's the guy in the car?"

"Sykes."

"Who's Sykes?"

"My master." 

"Obviously, but who is he?"

"He's the one that idiot who lives here owes money to."

"So he's a loan shark? Akio, we need to get Juliet out of that car."

From outside the car horn honked.

"Well baby I hate to leave you again, but duty calls."

Akio was a bit quicker then Clementine and followed Roscoe and DeSoto out of the building, but he wasn't fast enough to catch up with the car which was already driving away.

Juliet sank her nails into the leather of the car's interior to keep herself from sliding around when she heard growling coming from the back seat. She peeked around the seat to see Roscoe and DeSoto glaring at her. "Which one of you is Roscoe?"

"Me."

"Ok, so you like my friend right? The gold puff ball?"

"Yeah, I guess she'd kinda cute."

Juliet saw from the corner of her eye that DeSoto was licking his chops. "Well if you keep your buddy from eating me I'll tell you how to get her to like you back."

_You're really going to sacrifice your friend to this animal?_

_ Of course not. I'm going to tell him all the things Clementine doesn't like. _"Ok, so she loves it when you skirt around how you feel."

Roscoe glared over at DeSoto who still looked hungry. "Go on."

"And if you remember that other dog that was with us if you harass him she'll like that too."

"I thought he'd be a friend of hers."

"Oh no they hardly get along most of the time." She had to sink her claws into the upholstery again when the car swerved around a corner.

"Anything else?"

"Act tough around her. She's a sucker for a tough guy. I think that's pretty much it, questions?"

"Why don't you go bring her to me?"

"Gladly." _That doofus just gave me the perfect excuse to leave._

The car stopped in front of a large dank building As soon as the car door opened Juliet jumped out.

Sykes didn't even seem to notice that she'd gone and unlocked the door of the building.

Clementine had managed to get Akio's attention and had gotten him to go back to the docks. "Its late right now I'm sure if we go look in the morning we'll have a better chance."

"Better chance at what?" The dog with the red scarf was looking at them in curiosity.

"We're going to look for Sykes tomorrow. He has a friend of ours."

"You can't go look for Sykes on your own. He'll turn you into Doberman chow."

"We're willing to risk that."

"You should really stay here tonight then after we get our stuff for Fagin done then we can help you."

Akio still looked like he wanted to keep going, but allowed Clementine to pull him back.

Inside the house Fagin was under a blanket with the orange kitten on his lap and a book in his hand. He looked over at the dog with the scarf when he heard him come back in. "Well it looks like Dodger found some new friends. More mouths to feed oh boy…."

That night Clementine slept curled up at Akio's side when she was woken up by scratching outside the door. She silently crept over to the door and nosed it open. Out in the darkness she could make out a large shape that looked like a dog.

The shape turned its head to face her; its glowing gold eyes the only source of light in the darkness.

_Oh great she's here too. _"Get out of here, Chiyo. You're not welcome."

Chiyo didn't make any notice that she'd heard and instead sauntered off.

Sykes was still up going through a folder of people who owed me money when he heard a knock at his door. He grumbled as he set the folder down and walked over to the door running a hand through his hair as he did so. "Who's out there?" When he opened the door he found a woman on his doorstep. "What do you want?" 

"Just to talk. You may not remember me I did look different the last time we saw each other."

"Who are you and what do you want? Money?"

"No money just information. Have you seen a girl with mismatched eyes around here? All though I suppose she changed forms."

"There was a cat with mismatched eyes." 

Chiyo's eyes narrowed. "And you let her go?"

"Don't yell at me. She jumped out of the car."

"I should have expected as much from a brainless loan shark. The only thing you care about is money." Chiyo heard a gun cock and glanced over at Sykes. "You really should put that down."

"And you better watch who you're calling brainless."

"Shoot me I dare you."

Sykes didn't need to be told twice and fired the gun.

Chiyo had brought up a wall of darkness which absorbed the bullet. "If you're quiet done we can talk sensible. I have no desire to hurt you I just want to know why you let the cat go."

"Why's one hairball so important?"

"She's valuable."

There was a glitter of something in Sykes's eyes. "How valuable?"

"More valuable than anything you think of. So will you go get her?"

"In the morning. I don't know about you, but I need to sleep eventually. By the way I didn't catch your name."

"Don't worry about my name just get the cat." Chiyo waited until Sykes had shut the door again before shifting back into a dog and going down the street.

That morning Juliet woke up in a small bed of grass outside a posh townhouse. She'd gotten very lost after escaping Sykes and had been unable to find her way back to the docks. The sun was an unwelcome sight since she'd only been asleep a few hours. She cracked her eyes open regretting this almost imminently since the bright rays went right in her face.

The door of the townhouse opened and a little girl with red hair came bounding out. The little girl looked over at the patch of grass and walked over to Juliet crouching at her side. "How did you get here, kitty?"

Juliet blinked at the little girl before burying her head in her paws. "What do you want?"

"Are you hungry?" The little girl picked her up and started walking back towards the house. "My name's Jenny. You can come live with me if you want."

"Kid, I'm a stray cat why are you letting me in your house?"

Jenny walked into the kitchen and picked up a gold bowl from the floor. "Let's see what I can find for you to eat?"

An older man wearing a dark suit looked into the kitchen. "Jenny, we're going to be late."

"I'll be there in a minute Winston I need to get this kitty something to eat."

"Oh, Jenny do you really think it's a good idea to bring home a stray cat?"

"It will be fine, Winston." Jenny was mixing a conglomeration of food in a bowl before she poured it into the dish. "It's almost done kitty." She reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a can of whipped cream and added a large dollop to the food. "You'll love this."

Juliet stared at the food bowl for a minute then back up at Jenny. "You expect me to eat this?" She looked back at the bowl before licking a little off the side. Surprisingly it wasn't half bad. 

"I have to go now, kitty. Georgette should be up soon you'll like her."

After she'd eaten as much as she could Juliet walked out of the kitchen to explore the rest of the house. "This is a big house. Jenny must come from a wealthy family." She went up the stairs eager to explore the rest of the house. As she went down the hall she found a door that looked like it had something interesting behind it. She had to put a bit of force into getting the door open, but it was still dark inside.

The furnishings in the room were all very high class from the table that was covered in make—up to the large elevated bed. There was something stirring on the bed which caught Juliet's attention. A poodle made her way out of the bed and went over to the table ignoring Juliet at first. She removed the curlers from her hair before blanching at her appearance.

"Are you Georgette?"

The poodle jumped and rounded on Juliet. "Who are you? How did you get in here? Winston, Winston bark bark!"

"Calm down I just want to know if you're Georgette."

"I am….who are you?"

"Juliet….Jenny found me sleeping outside the house and she seems pretty intent on keeping me here."

A scowl came to Georgette's face. "Oh really? Well if you're going to live here we'll need to set up a few rules. You are not to set foot in my room, you will leave keep your distance from me, and you aren't to touch any of my things."

"Ok, ok since I'm in your room I might as well go. You should probably go back to sleep to keep yourself beautiful."

"What was that?"

Juliet ignored her and walked out of the room. "What was her problem? I just wanted to know who she was."

_I should have warned you about Georgette. She can be a bitch sometimes. And I'm not just saying that because she's a female dog._

During this Akio and Clementine were out with Dodger and the rest of the dogs, but were more interested in looking for Sykes. Clementine started to go down the street when she felt a paw on her leg. "What is it, kid?"

"Where are you going?"

"I need to find Sykes. He has a friend of mine."

"But you can't go by yourself. He has those big dogs."

"I'm not going by myself Akio is coming with me. Besides we could handle those two ankle biters no problem."

Akio was trying to look for a gap in traffic when Tito and the orange kitten went off towards a limo.

Dodger cleared his throat a bit loudly to get their attention. "If you two are still interested in looking for Sykes you might want to help Tito and the kid first."

"Fine, fine let's go with them." Clementine was having a bit of a difficult time keeping up with Akio who had a longer stride then her. "Could you slow down? My legs are kinda stubby."

"Or I could carry you."

"How would you talk if you're carrying me?"

"It was just a suggestion so you could keep up. Francis is a good actor. A little theatrical, but at least its working." Akio looked into the limo when he saw a window blocking off the back of the limo. "What do you think is back there?"

"I don't know I can't see." Clementine walked up Akio's back to see what he was talking about. "Its probably someone rich."

Akio got back out of the limo in time for the window to roll down. "Well we came with Tito now can we go look for Sykes?"

Jenny had been in the back of the limo. "What are you doing in here kitty?" She squeezed through the window and picked up the kitten. "Why don't you come home with me? I have another kitty that you'll like."

Clementine heard this and was about to jump back into the limo when the driver came back. "That little girl just said she has another cat. Do you think it could be Juliet?"

"Maybe I wouldn't put it past her not to stick around with Sykes."

They were able to weave in and out of traffic until the limo stopped in front of a large white townhouse. Akio pulled Clementine back when she went to follow Jenny into the house. 

"Why are you stopping me?"

"We can't just barge in there?" He walked out from behind the limo and went up to the door to start scratching at it.

"You think scratching at the door is going to get them to open it?"

"Look up at the window."

Clementine looked up to see Juliet in the window sill. "What luck. Now how do we get in?"

Juliet had an idea and got out of the window sill. She went back up the steps in search of Georgette and found her coming down the steps. "Georgette, I need you for something."

"What do you want?"

"I need you to get someone to open the door."

"Do it yourself I'm busy."

Juliet frowned at her before going off in search of Winston or Jenny. She found Jenny in the kitchen and pawed at her leg.

"Do you want something kitty?"

"I want you to let me out."

"Are you hungry again?"

"No, I want you to let me out."

Outside Akio was still scratching at the door which finally caught the attention of Winston.

Juliet heard the door open and ran out of the kitchen slinking out the front door. "Well I'm glad that's over with. There's this poodle in there who's really rude."

Akio leaned down and picked her up the scruff her neck.

"I can walk you know."

"Just let him carry you. He's probably happy that he's taller then you for once. So where are we going from here?"

"I thought we'd go pay Sykes a visit. I think I still remember how to get there."

It was dark by the time they finally got back to Sykes's office.

"You need to put me down now, Akio." She landed on her feet before walking over to the office door. "Roscoe, Roscoe come here."

The door cracked open. "What are you doing back here?"

"I brought my friend with me."

Roscoe's stubby tail was wagging and he walked out of the building.

Clementine looked over at Juliet in confusion. "What's going on Juliet?"

"Your friend gave me some pointers."

"Really? Well I'm not interested."

DeSoto was also looking out the door.

Clementine took a step back as Roscoe went towards her. "Well, I don't know how to tell you this, but I'm really not interested." She was starting to feel backed into a corner and smacked Roscoe across the nose. "Back off, ok." Her response was to be swiped at with a heavy paw.

DeSoto had now left the building and was making his way over to them.

"Maybe we should get out of here."

"What happened to the big talk about them being ankle biters?"

Before either Roscoe or DeSoto could go any further there was the heavy footfalls coming from the building. Roscoe turned to Clementine. "You better get out of here unless you want Sykes to get a hold of you."

That sounded like a good idea since Sykes could probably easily take them out.

Lurking in the darkness was Chiyo. She looked in Sykes's direction with a snarl on her face. _I'm going to have to have a talk with this stupid loan shark._


	13. Chapter 13

[A/N: So on top of this chapter being super tardy it's also super short. I only had the one idea for it which is why it's so short. In case you're wondering what happened to me the Hobbit happened. I saw

it and lost total interest in this story and started a Hobbit fic, but I'm back now so expect regular updates again. Reviews are appreciated. Enjoy the chapter!]

"Clementine, why am I still a cat? We left New York."

"Because we're in Jazzy Alleys and in case you haven't noticed we're cats too." Sure enough Clementine had changed both herself and Akio into cats.

In front of them was a large house and built into the front door was a cat flap.

Juliet pushed the flap forward with her paw and peeked inside. "Should we go in?" She was still looking into the cat flap when she saw a furry white face staring back at her. "There's somebody in there staring at me."

Akio peeked in to see the face too. "That's probably Duchess. Duchess, are you in there?"

The cat that came out of the flap was a sleek white female wearing a gold collar, but there were three vertical slash marks on her right cheek. "Oh, I remember you. You were with Noir."

Juliet frowned in confusion. "Who?"

_Don't ask it's a long story._

"Do you mean Erik?"

"I think that was his name, but the Madam always called him Noir."

Clementine had been busy looking at the scratch marks on Duchess's face. "Duchess, what happened to your cheek?" 

"Nothing, nothing happened to anyone's cheek."

"Looks like someone scratched you pretty good." 

Duchess looked a bit fretful. "If I tell you will you promise not to tell my children? They love him so much."

"We'll be quiet."

"It was Mr. O'Malley. I don't understand why he did it either. He was so kind before then I just saw him on the street and he hit me." Tears were stinging her eyes.

_Don't tell me this Mr. O'Malley was someone I messed up._

_How perceptive of you._

Juliet was still looking at the scratch marks on Duchess's face. "Duchess, why don't I go talk to this Mr. O'Malley and we can get this straightened out."

"Oh, no don't do that. He may hit you too."

"Then I'll hit him back. I'll be back in a tick."

Duchess had her head down before turning to go back into the house. "Oh, how rude of me. Would the two of you like to come in?"

All three of Duchess's kittens were waiting for their Mother's return and were peering at Akio and Clementine in curiosity. The orange one went right up to Clementine. "Who are you? Are you the Madam's new pets?"

"No, we just thought we'd pay your Mom a visit."

The white kitten was looking up at Akio with a dreamy look on her face. "You're almost as handsome as Mr. O'Malley."

"Thank you….I think…."

By this point Juliet was in the back alleys of Paris and could hear loud jazz music as well as loud yowling coming from behind two garbage cans. She peeked around the cans to see an orange cat with a white belly engaged in a fight with a slightly portly black cat.

"Honestly I don't know what's gotten into you O'Malley. You don't recognize your friends and you're hitting Duchess."

_So this is O'Malley? _"Excuse me, mister I think I can help your friend."

"Leave the helping to me little lady all he needs is a good smack upside the head." He went to go do that when O'Malley knocked him backwards.

"No, really I can help." She bit O'Malley on the tail to get his attention. "Leave the butterball alone and fight someone who will give you a run for your money."

"Watch who you're calling butterball."

O'Malley lunged at Juliet knocking her down on her back.

"Oh, perfect."

O'Malley went to bite her when he felt a paw on his chest. Almost imminently the darkness started to clear from his eyes and he shook his head like he was trying to get water out of them. "Oh jeez my head hurts…what happened?"

"Oh, good your back O'Malley." The black cat pulled him into a hug. "If it weren't for this little lady you'd still be raising all kinds of hell."

Juliet started to back up when she saw O'Malley glare at her.

"If it weren't for her I wouldn't have been acting like this in the first place."

"Excuse me I just helped you. Besides instead of you yelling at me you should go and see Duchess."

"Don't tell me I did something to Duchess."

"You smacked her pretty hard."

O'Malley untangled himself from the black cat before darting out of the alley with Juliet close behind.

Duchess had been drinking milk that her mistress had left for her when she heard scratching at the front door. "Oh, I wonder who that could be?"

It was Juliet who was doing the scratching while O'Malley paced behind her.

"I can't believe I hit her. What if she doesn't want to see me?"

"O'Malley, it wasn't your fault. The darkness can make you do some stupid things believe me."

Duchess stuck her head out of the cat flap pausing when she saw O'Malley. "Mr. O'Malley?"

He winced at the scratch marks on her face. "Hey Duchess….look I just came to say I was sorry about hitting you and if you never want to see me again I understand."

She walked out of the cat flap and instead of hitting him or yelling she merely smiled. "I knew you'd never hurt me on purpose, Mr. O'Malley."

"Actually Duchess, I think I can clarify what brought on his strange behavior. Do you remember Noir?"

"Of course I remember Noir he was my friend."

"I was under his influence at the time and he cohered me into corrupting Mr. O'Malley's heart."

Duchess's smile melted away. "But he was my friend why would he do something so awful?"

"He used you. He used and abused a lot of my people."

_Why are you bringing me into this?_

_ Because someone needs to tell her the truth and I know you're too chicken to do it yourself. _ "So if everything is good here I'll just get Akio and Clementine and we can go."

"Thank you for helping Mr. O'Malley and for telling me the truth about….him."

"No worries…." She found Akio and Clementine listening to a black kitten playing the piano. "Well everything's good here we can go now."


	14. Chapter 14

[A/N: Originally this chapter was supposed to focus on all three of them, but that idea kinda went out the window. I'll probably do a Clementine centric chapter eventually. Also I think Mama Odie is secretly (or not secretly) a bad ass. Reviews are appreciated. Enjoy the chapter!]

"Tiana's Place? Is this a restaurant or something?"

Clementine took Juliet by the arm and pulled her inside. "Tiana's Place is only the best restaurant in Louisiana. You haven't lived until you've had her gumbo. Akio, do you remember her jambalaya?"

"How could I forget?" 

Inside the restaurant jazz music was playing and most of the tables were filled. Directing everything was a pretty young black woman, but it looked like her belly was a little swollen.

"Yoo-hoo, Tiana we're back." Clementine detached herself from Juliet and bounded over to Tiana pulling her into a hug.

Tiana was nearly lifted off her feet. "It's good to see you too, Clementine."

"You feel heavier than before."

"Well, that's because Naveen and me are going to have a baby."

Clementine imminently set her back on the ground. "That's great."

"I see you found your friend."

"Yep we found her."

"Are you hungry by chance? Lunch is on the house."

"You know we'd eat your cooking at every available opportunity."

"Naveen, table for three please."

Once they were at a table Naveen presented them with menus. "I never thought my favorite body guards would ever come back. We mean to invite you to the wedding, but you three can be very hard to find."

Akio glanced over at Juliet who was busy perusing the menu. "We had some errands to run. Naveen, you haven't happened to have seen a big shaggy black dog or a woman wearing one gold earring around here have you?"

"A dog? No, but I have seen the woman."

"Where?"

"While I was helping Tia clean up last night and I saw her going off in the direction of the bayou."

Akio looked back over at Juliet and Clementine who were still looking through the menu. "Didn't you hear him? Chiyo is here."

Juliet set her menu down. "I heard, but I'd like to catch up with Tiana."

"Are you serious? This is important."

"Akio, Chiyo will show up again. We seem to have a knack for running into each other."

"You two have lost your minds. I'm going to go find her." He stood up and walked out of the restaurant. "What's with them? I thought this was important. He'd looked back at the restaurant half expecting them to come out. "I guess I'm on my own."

It didn't take him long to get back to the bayou which was just as dark and creep as he remembered. "Well there's no point in being scared. It's just a swamp." He was using the logs in the swamp to keep his feet from getting wet when he realized someone was watching him. "Very funny Chiyo now come out."

"The witch is here?" There was a loud splash from behind him.

"Louis? No, she isn't here I thought you were her."

Louis pocked his head out of the water. "Don't scare me like that. That witch has been causing all kinds of problems for Mama Odie. You're going to get rid of her, right?"

"That's the plan. Well I'll just be on my way."

"You know she's figured out a way to bring that voodoo man back."

"You mean Facilier? How did she manage that?"

"Don't know, but I've seen his shadow all over the bayou."

"And Mama Odie still lives in a boat out here, right?"

"Yeah, and she's been putting up shields around the bayou to try and keep them out."

"Well, I'm going to go find Mama Odie. Hopefully she can lead me in the right direction."

Akio had gotten deep into the swamps when he realized how dark it had gotten. "It looks like we're in the right direction." He heard a shrill giggle followed by a splash of Louis going back under the water. "Louis, are you still here?"

"Yeah, I'm still here."

"What was that giggling?" Akio started to go forward again he was knocked over by a burst of dark flames. "That isn't Facilier that's Maleficent."

He was close it was Maleficent's shadow.

Akio got back to his feet and threw his disk at the shadow only to have the shadow disperse and reform behind him.

Maleficent went to attack again when a burst of light shot through her.

"Another evil spirit I see. Who said you were welcome in my swamp?"

Maleficent turned to face Mama Odie, but before she could attack another burst of light knocked her backwards.

"Haven't you had enough yet?"

The shadow snarled at Mama Odie before drifting further into the bayou.

"And what are you doing here on your own, young man?"

Akio got a little shakily to his feet. "I'm looking for the witch whose been giving you trouble."

Mama Odie laughed at this. "You mean that little ankle biter?"

"Yes…."

"Someone needs to teach that small fry who's the boss around here. I'll come with you and I can give her a what for."

As they continued through the swamp the trees seemed to get closer together and looked sicker.

"Mama Odie, I heard Chiyo got Facilier's shadow out from where ever he went."

"She did, but he's easily dealt with."

A shadow was slinking towards them.

"In fact I think the shadow man is going to pay us a visit. Come out here pipsqueak we're here to fight you." Mama Odie grabbed Akio's arm. "You take him I'll take her."

Chiyo did not take kindly to Mama Odie's name calling and sent a ball of darkness at her.

Akio was busy with the shadow man and only seemed to be making it angry. _If Mama Odie can get rid of Chiyo since the shadow should go away._

Mama Odie had casually swiped the ball away from her. "You know missy you should pick your fights a little more wisely."

"I could say the same thing to you, Granny."

Mama Odie only laughed which caught Chiyo off guard.

"What are you laughing about?"

"I'm laughing because it's funny that you think you're so powerful and you're going to get beaten by a granny."

Akio nearly fell off the log he was balanced on when he heard a blood curdling screech.

Chiyo was crouched on the ground cradling her right cheek moaning in pain.

"So have you learned your lesson, missy? Are you going to get out my swamp?" 

Chiyo glared up at her before disappearing through a dark portal.

"Mama Odie, what did you do to her?"

"I gave her something to remember me by. Why don't you go home I'll get Louis to help with the cleanup."

Chiyo had just gotten back to the world she'd decided would be a home base to get a better look at her cheek. The skin had been peeled away and the bits of skin around the wound were scorched. The more she looked at her reflection the angrier she got.


	15. Chapter 15

[A/N: I think this chapter was kind of a hit and miss. I started to re-watch the second Pocahontas movie yesterday, but I didn't get to finish it which is why the ending is kind of rushed. I don't know if I've said this in previous notes or not, but I really don't like Disney sequels. In my opinion the only decent ones were Lion King II and Little Mermaid II. I suppose in hind sight I could have come up with a different plot, but that's water under the bridge. Oh and the character who pops up in this chapter will appear again sometime. Reviews are appreciated. Enjoy the chapter!]

"This doesn't look like the New World. Juliet are you sure we're in the right place?" Akio was looking her shoulder at the map.

"I'm sure. We followed this exact route from Louisiana and that should mean that we're in the New World."

Clementine wasn't paying any attention to them and had her eyes glued on someone.

_Oh no not him please not him._

_ Not who?_

_ Do you see that man Clementine is oogling?_

Juliet craned her neck to see a man who looked a bit like Erik looking at a vender's stocks. _What about him?_

_ That's my older brother._

_ Do you mean to tell me there are two of you?_

_ Don't worry about that Wulfric is a lamb compared to me._

With this thought in mind Juliet started to walk over to him.

_What are you doing?_

_ I'm going to talk to him._

_ I'm begging you don't talk to him._

_ You're going to have to do better than that. _Juliet tugged on the man's sleeve. "Excuse me mister, you wouldn't happen to have a younger brother named Erik would you?"

Wulfric's previously curious expression from looking at the merchant's wares became angry. "I do. I've been looking for that little shit everywhere."

"Well, look no further because you found him."

"Ok, where is he?"

Juliet pointed at her heart. "I kinda destroyed him then he latched onto my heart."

Wulfric didn't look overly impressed. "He can hear me right?"

"Yep."

"Well little brother that's pretty low to latch onto a little girl. Why don't you come out so we can talk?"

_You heard him. Come out so you can have a talk._

Wulfric only continued to frown when he saw his brother. "What have you done to yourself, Erik?"

"Weren't you listening? She destroyed my body and I had to go somewhere didn't I?"

"Or you could have just been a man and died when you were out matched."

"How is that being a man? Rolling over and dying sounds like something you would do."

Clementine nudged Akio's shoulder. "Is it just me or is Erik's brother kind of a babe?"

"Why are you asking me?"

Juliet was quiet enjoying this tongue lashing and stepped to the side when Erik started to drift behind her. "Oh, no you're going to face him and take it."

"Erik, I tried and tried with you and you don't seem to want to listen to anyone, but yourself and that's why-" He was cut off by a woman singing. "Really? Here too?"

Clementine who'd been staring at Wulfric with rapt attention looked away to see if she could see the source of the singing. "I guess we are in the right place if Pocahontas is here. I wonder if that blonde guy is with her." 

Pocahontas saw Juliet and went over to hug her when she hesitated. "There's something different about you."

"Oh you mean my eye? Don't let it bother you. Is John Smith around here by chance?"

Pocahontas looked away. "I-I don't know. I haven't heard any news on him in such a long time."

"Akio come with me we have someone we need to find."

"What about me?"

"Take Erik's brother with you and keep Pocahontas company."

Clementine looked over at Wulfric who wasn't paying any attention to her. _I will keep him company all day if I have to. _"I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Clementine and you are?"

"Wulfric…." He noticed she was staring. "What are you staring at?"

"You're gorgeous."

"Thank you…."

Pocahontas had cottoned on to Clementine's behavior and glanced over at him. "See something you like?"

"Indeed I have. Is that guy looking for you?"

She looked over at a man with long brown hair who was scanning the crowd. "Yes, he's looking for me."

"I swear this world is populated by gorgeous men."

"There you are Pocahontas I thought I'd lost you." He glanced over at Clementine. "I see you've made a friend."

"Yes, Jon Rolfe this is my friend Clementine. I thought maybe she could accompany us to where ever we're going."

Rolfe glanced over at Clementine and shrugged. "I suppose if she'd like to come with." He walked over to the carriage and opened one of the doors for Pocahontas and Clementine."

Clementine had hurried back over to Wulfric and grabbed onto his arm. "You're coming with me."

"Am I your babysitter all of a sudden?"

"No, you're my friend. Anyone who tells Erik off is all right with me."

As they walked along beside the carriage Wulfric glanced over at Clementine. "You've been around the worlds, right? Have you noticed that sometimes the people will just randomly break into song?"

"You mean the singing Pocahontas was doing? Yeah, I've noticed."

"Do you ever join in?"

"No….have you?"

"I don't sing. There was this one time I was in this pub and they had their swords to my neck because I wouldn't sing."

"You're talking about the Snuggly Duckling, right?"

"It was the pub in Kingdom of the Sun."

"Yep, that was the Snuggly Duckling."

As they neared Rolfe's manor Clementine noticed that Wulfric kept looking at her. "What?"

"Nothing, I'm just trying to place what world you're from."

"Atlantica."

"Of course Atlantica. Why didn't that come to me sooner?"

They were greeted by Rolfe's house keeper Mrs. Jenkins who wasn't wearing her glasses and kissed Meeko right on the mouth.

"When will I be able to speak with the King?"

"Soon I suspect I'll go see him now and tell him of your arrival."

Mrs. Jenkins began bustling about making preparations for tea.

Wulfric was sitting next to Clementine who was more interested in the tea and sandwiches.

"You're staring again."

"Am I? I hadn't noticed. Clementine, how exactly did my brother end up in your friend's heart?"

Clementine swallowed her sandwich. "That's easy enough to explain. He fed her this line of horse manure about how she needed to find the Princesses of Heart and then when she told him where all of them were he stole her heart and corrupted it. She worked for him for a while until this kid named Sora fixed her and then she went back to give him a what for and when the End of the World was falling apart I guess he latched onto her."

Wulfric set his tea cup down looking a little green. "I knew he was kind of a rotten kid, but I didn't expect he'd act out like that. He must have seen something in her that he liked or he would have just let it go."

"You must have someone in your family who's decent."

"That's just what confuses me. Erik was the only one who was interested in the darkness. I guess he was just a bad egg."

"Where's the rest of your family then?"

"I don't know. Looked for them ever where and I haven't seen hide nor hair of them. In the back of my mind I think Erik did something to them, but I try not to think like that."

_Good lord he looks sad….I wonder…_ "Do you need a hug?"

"No, I'm fine."

"Are you sure? Hugs make everything better."

"I'm fine…" That had come out a bit snappier then what he'd meant. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have yelled at you." He could hear Rolfe talking to Mrs. Jenkins about something called the hunt ball and got up from his chair. "Is everything ok?"

"Radcliffe invited Pocahontas to the hunt ball to prove to the King that she isn't a savage. If everything goes smoothly then he'll call off his armada." Rolfe looked over at Clementine who'd been in the doorway. "I think it would be a good idea for you to accompany her."

"I can't dance."

"We'll find someone to teach you."

_If Radcliffe is involved I should just suck it up and go. _"Well you've won me over I'll go." She turned to Wulfric. "You'll be my date. And I'm saying that because I'm sure Pocahontas will be Jon Rolfe's date."

By the time the hunt ball arrived Clementine didn't want to see another corset or frilly dress ever again. Mrs. Jenkins had fixed her hair into what Clementine thought was a curly mess on top of her head and was wearing a powder blue and white dress that she felt was going to choke the life out of her. She was all too happy to sit in the carriage, but was wondering how she and Pocahontas were supposed to fit.

Pocahontas looked over at Clementine stifling her laughter.

"What are you laughing about?"

"You look ridiculous."

"Look in a mirror, sister. Oh, I feel like I'm going to pass out."

The hunt ball looked like it was it one of the more lavish parties that the King put on. Clementine tried to stick with Wulfric, but soon found herself getting passed around the room. From the corner of her eye she saw Pocahontas with Rolfe and didn't realize who she was dancing with until she stepped on his foot and heard a hiss of pain. "Oh, I'm sorry I wasn't paying any-" She stopped herself when she saw Radcliffe.

"Don't I know you?"

"We've met…"

"You're friends with that savage aren't you?"

"Call her savage again and I'll step on your foot again."

Radcliffe gave her a toothy grin. "Well that's what she isn't she?"

Clementine saw Wulfric from the corner of her eye and looked back at Radcliffe. "Well I think my knight in shining armor is here to rescue me, but before I go." She slammed her foot back onto Radcliffe's foot putting her heel into it. She heard a squawk of pain before leaving him.

"What did you do to him to cause that noise?"

"Stepped on his foot."

Wulfric had seen the heels Clementine was wearing and swallowed. "You're not going to step on my foot are you?"

"No, I wasn't planning on it."

The song ended a little too quickly for Clementine's liking then it was time for dinner. She was pleasantly surprised to see that Radcliff was limping. _I see what he means with the singing. _Clementine could feel herself being lulled into a stupor by the singing when she heard a loud roar. _Oh, Pocahontas is not going to like this. _

Sure enough Pocahontas threw herself on the bear to protect it.

"Don't you see your majesty she's a savage."

"You're the savage doing this to a poor defenseless animal."

The King stood up sputtering in rage and pointing an accusatory finger. "Take this savage to the tower."

Clementine stood up to defend Pocahontas when Wulfric grabbed her wrist. "What are you doing?"

"Don't do anything stupid. Jon Rolfe can get her out don't worry. All you'll do is get her in worse trouble or you'll get thrown in the tower yourself."

When they got back to Jon Rolfe's manor Wulfric imminently noticed that Clementine was giving him the cold shoulder. "You want to be pissed at me fine, but I did what I did to help you."

"You couldn't even help your brother. What makes you think I want your help?"

"So you're going to play that card?"

"Yes, I'm going to play that card."

Jon Rolfe was pacing in the front room when he heard a knock at the door. He found a hooded figure on his doorstep. "Who are you?"

"Somebody looking out for Pocahontas."

Clementine recognized the voice. "John Smith? Are Juliet and Akio with you?"

"They are and so is she."

Pocahontas was wearing the dirty tatters of her dress, but looked a bit torn between John Smith and Jon Rolfe.

John Smith had pulled the hood of his cloak back by this point. "Well if anyone's concerned Radcliffe is getting ready to wage war on the natives."

Clementine perked up at this. "Would anyone interject to me taking care of this?"

"I could give you a ride."

Radcliffe was on the deck of one of the ships when he heard singing. Beautiful singing. He pushed the captain aside and began to steer the ship in the direction of the music completely unaware that he was going towards the rocks.

Clementine was hiding behind the rocks smiling to herself when she saw the ship getting closer. _Time to turn up the volume._

All Radcliffe knew was that he wanted whatever was making that music.

Clementine jumped off the rocks just as the ship crashed into them. She easily spotted Radcliffe flaying in the water, but was hesitant to get him out. They locked eyes for a minute Clementine swimming out of the way a bit when he went to grab her tail. As much as she wanted him to drown her rational mind won out and she grabbed him around the waist.

Radcliffe was sputtering and chocking on sea water when a sword pressed to his throat.

Clementine wasn't paying any attention to Radcliffe anymore and really just wanted to leave. She'd just gotten onto the glider when she felt a hand on her leg. "Do you want something?"

"This may be presumptuous of me, but do you think we could see each other again?"

"Maybe another time."


End file.
